As the Gaza war rages, a gunman kills three Israelis at the border crossing in the West Bank

The rare attack on the Allenby Bridge came against a backdrop of increasing violence in the West Bank, with heavy Israeli raids and attacks by Palestinians, and the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas, which has now lasted for 12 months.

The military said a “terrorist” had arrived at the border crossing, also known as King Hussein Bridge, in a truck “from Jordan.”

The driver “left the truck and opened fire on Israeli security forces operating on the bridge,” a military statement said.

“Three Israeli civilians were declared dead in the attack,” the statement said. AFP was told that these were “security forces” and not members of the army or police.

The attacker was shot dead, the military added, without revealing his identity.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attacker a “despicable terrorist” who was inspired by a “murderous ideology” that he said was fueled by Iran.

Hamas praised the attack but did not take responsibility for it, adding that it “confirms the Arab people’s rejection of the (Israeli) occupation, its crimes and its ambitions in Palestine and Jordan.”

The Jordanian Interior Ministry said authorities were “investigating the incident.”

The Jordan Valley border crossing is the only international gateway for Palestinians from the West Bank without having to enter Israel, which has occupied the territory since 1967.

Parallel to the war in the Gaza Strip, which began after Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, violence in the West Bank has also increased.

On August 28, the Israeli military launched simultaneous attacks on several towns and refugee camps in the northern West Bank, killing at least 36 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah.

The military said it had killed 35 militants. At least 14 of the fatalities were claimed by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Since October 7, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 662 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

At least 23 Israelis, including members of the security forces, were killed in Palestinian attacks during the same period, Israeli officials say.

According to official Israeli figures, 1,205 people were killed in the Hamas attack on Israel, most of them civilians, including some hostages killed during the hostage-taking.

In the attack, the militants took 251 hostages. 97 of them are still being held in Gaza. According to the Israeli military, 33 of them are dead.

According to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-controlled Gaza area, at least 40,972 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive so far.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, most of the dead are women and children.

On Sunday, Israel bombarded Gaza with air strikes and artillery fire as prospects for a ceasefire remained slim.

According to the Gaza Strip’s Civil Defense Force, nearly a dozen people were killed in Israeli air strikes on Sunday, including five in the Jabalia refugee camp.

The Israeli military said it had attacked around “25 Hamas targets” across the Gaza Strip over the past day.

There is no respite for the 2.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip; almost all of them have been displaced at least once.

“Moving from one area to another is worrying because there is no safe place in Gaza,” said Raeed Hamad, 51, a cancer patient from the southern city of Khan Yunis.

“We were displaced by heavy bombing… I have lost weight and am exhausted.”

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza on Sunday and reiterated his commitment to destroy Hamas.

However, he said the military was also focusing on the northern front, where there were exchanges of fire between the Lebanese militant Hezbollah and Israeli forces on Sunday.

“While you are fighting here in Gaza, we are preparing for anything that might happen in the north,” Gallant told the soldiers, according to a statement from his office.

“The shift in focus can happen quickly and can affect you within a short period of time.”

While Hamas demands a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as part of a ceasefire agreement, Israel insists that troops must remain on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt are mediating ceasefire efforts.

Tens of thousands of Israeli protesters put pressure on the government and demanded a deal that would release the hostages.

Late Saturday, mass protests broke out again in Tel Aviv and several other cities. According to organizers, more than 500,000 people took part.

Anger and grief erupted across Israel after the military recovered the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in the Gaza Strip last month.

“We must demand that no one forgets the hostages, no one ignores them, no one lets them die,” said Andrey Kozlov, one of the many hostages released during the week-long ceasefire in November.

“You’re running out of time. We see it, we feel it. Bring her home immediately.”

International pressure to end the war has also increased following the fatal shooting of Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the West Bank on Friday while protesting against Israeli settlements in the area.

Her family, Turkey and the UN human rights office said Israeli forces killed her. The Israeli military said the incident was under investigation.