Armed Attack on King Hussein Bridge: Israeli Soldiers Killed and Crossing Closed

In a serious security escalation at one of the most important border crossings in the region, two Israeli security personnel were killed, one in his twenties and the other around 60 years old, and a third was critically injured in a shooting and stabbing incident that occurred this Thursday morning at the King Hussein Bridge (Allenby) border crossing between Jordan and Israel.

According to Israeli emergency services, the attack was carried out by three gunmen who came from the Jordanian side, with one of them managing to reach the crossing in a truck carrying humanitarian aid headed for Gaza.

Upon arriving at the inspection area, he pulled out a knife and a rifle and began shooting and stabbing several individuals, resulting in the deaths of the two soldiers.

Images published by the Israeli police showed the knife and rifle used in the attack stained with blood, while security sources confirmed that the attacker was neutralized immediately.

Following the incident, Jordanian official authorities announced the suspension of crossing movement at the King Hussein Bridge, indicating that the decision came after the crossing was closed from the Israeli side.

The King Hussein Bridge is one of the most prominent commercial and humanitarian crossing points between Jordan and Israel, primarily used by Palestinians to travel abroad via Queen Alia International Airport, especially for pilgrimage and Umrah, and is controlled by Israel from the Palestinian side, which refers to it as Allenby Crossing, while the Palestinian Authority calls it the Karama Crossing.

This attack recalls a similar incident that occurred in September 2024, when an armed individual infiltrated from Jordan to the same crossing and killed three Israeli civilians before being killed by security forces, which led to the crossing being closed for two full days.

So far, neither the Israeli nor the Jordanian government has issued extensive official statements regarding the background of the attack or the identity of the attackers in detail, while investigations are still ongoing at the scene, amid significant security mobilization from both sides.

This operation is expected to cast a shadow over the already tense security situation between the West Bank, Jordan, and Israel, especially in light of the increasing tensions related to the humanitarian situation in Gaza and movements at the border crossings.