Shooting attack at the West Bank-Jordan border crossing kills 3 Israelis

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Israeli security forces gather at the scene of a reported attack near the Allenby Crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan on September 8, 2024, where the Israeli military said a truck driver opened fire, killing three Israelis. (AFP)
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Vehicles queue at the Jordanian side of the King Hussein Bridge (also known as Allenby Bridge) crossing between the West Bank and Jordan on July 19, 2022. (AFP)
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Updated 08 September 2024
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Shooting attack at the West Bank-Jordan border crossing kills 3 Israelis

  • Israel says the gunman approached bridge crossing from Jordanian side in truck and opened fire at Israeli security forces, who killed assailant
  • Jordanian authorities say investigating shooting at King Hussein crossing

ALLENBY CROSSING, West Bank: Three Israelis were shot and killed Sunday at the border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan, Israeli officials said, in what appeared to be an attack linked to the 11-month-old war in Gaza.
Israel's military said the gunman approached the Allenby Bridge Crossing from the Jordanian side in a truck and opened fire at Israeli security forces, who killed him in a shootout. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said the three Israelis were all men in their 50s.
Relatives identified the gunman as Maher al-Jazi, a retired Jordanian soldier from Athroh, a town in the impoverished area of Maan.
Jordan is investigating the shooting, its state-run Petra News Agency reported. The Western-allied Arab country made peace with Israel in 1994 but is deeply critical of its policies toward the Palestinians. Jordan has a large Palestinian population and has seen mass protests against Israel over the war in Gaza.
The Allenby crossing over the Jordan River, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, is mainly used by Palestinians and international tourists, as well as for cargo shipments. The crossing has seen few security incidents over the years, but in 2014 Israeli security guards shot and killed a Jordanian judge who they said had attacked them.
Authorities in Israel and Jordan said the crossing was closed until further notice. Israel later announced the closure of both of its land crossings with Jordan, near Beit Shean in the north and Eilat in the south.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack and linked it to Israel's larger conflict with Iran and allied militant groups, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Israeli-occupied West Bank has seen a surge of violence since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Israel has launched near-daily military arrest raids into dense Palestinian residential areas, and there has been a rise in Israeli settler violence and Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
Also on Sunday, loved ones mourned Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, an American-Turkish woman who was shot dead on Friday in the West Bank. She had been demonstrating against Israeli settlements there. The White House has said it was “deeply disturbed” and called on Israel to investigate, while her family seeks an independent investigation. Her body remained at a hospital in the West Bank city of Nablus.
In Gaza, meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike early Sunday killed five people, including two women, two children and a senior official in the Civil Defense — first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government.
The Civil Defense said the strike targeted the home of its deputy director for northern Gaza, Mohammed Morsi, in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. The army says it tries to avoid harming civilians and only targets militants.
Another Israeli strike hit the Eid family home in the Nuseirat refugee camp and killed at least two girls, according to an Associated Press journalist who counted the bodies and witnesses. First responders were looking for others under the rubble.
Gaza's Health Ministry says over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their Oct. 7 attack. They abducted another 250 and are still holding around 100 after releasing most of the rest in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a weeklong cease-fire last November. Around a third of the remaining hostages inside Gaza are believed to be dead.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have spent months trying to broker a cease-fire and the return of the hostages, but the negotiations have repeatedly bogged down.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories the Palestinians want for a future state — in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but maintained control over its airspace, coastline and most of its land crossings. Along with Egypt, it imposed a blockade on Gaza after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.


War-torn Gaza a ‘constant peak emergency’: UN official

Updated 9 sec ago
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War-torn Gaza a ‘constant peak emergency’: UN official

  • They practically have no access to fresh food — just staples provided by UNRWA and WFP,” Renard said, referring to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees

JERUSALEM: The Gaza Strip remains in a state of “constant peak emergency,” a UN official said, as aid groups continue to face severe challenges in delivering assistance after more than a year of war.
“Every day is a struggle to make sure that we can provide our assistance,” Antoine Renard, head of the World Food Programme (WFP) in the occupied Palestinian territories, told AFP shortly after a visit to war-torn Gaza.
Vast areas of Gaza have been devastated by Israel’s retaliatory assault on the territory after the October 7 Hamas attack last year sparked the war.
Israel has been intensifying operations in the north of the besieged Palestinian territory, where the UN has warned hundreds of thousands of people are trapped.
“People in the north of Gaza are relying solely on assistance. They practically have no access to fresh food — just staples provided by UNRWA and WFP,” Renard said, referring to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
He said that most residents have survived so far on tinned food, a situation he describes as “unsustainable.”
“It’s unique to actually have one year into a war where people are just depending on processed food that is coming from cans,” he said.
“We face issues with crossings. We face issues in having our assistance not being under bombs,” he added, noting that looting of the goods once in the territory was also a problem.
Despite a desperate need to increase the amount of aid going in, he said no WFP food aid has managed to reach northern Gaza since October 1, requesting that “crossings be reopened.”
The Israeli military said it was facilitating the transfer of humanitarian aid into northern Gaza, including fuel for hospitals and allowing the transfer of patients from one hospital to another.

According to the military, some 30 trucks carrying flour and food from the WFP entered northern Gaza through the Erez West crossing on Monday.
James Elder, spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, on Tuesday said Gaza appeared to be facing the worst restrictions on aid yet.
“August was the lowest amount of humanitarian aid that came into the Gaza Strip of any full month since the war broke out,” he said.
Renard said access to fresh food in southern Gaza is slightly better, with some vegetables and fruits available, but most people in the area still lack access to dairy, meat or fish.
Most goods, however, remained out of reach for many residents with shortages causing prices to skyrocket.
“The price of a can has just doubled now again on the market in the south of Gaza,” he said.
Bread remains one of the few fresh staples available to Gazans, he said, with WFP-assisted bakeries providing a loaf of bread to 2.1 million people daily.
“For many in Gaza, this is the only fresh food they have,” Renard added, calling them a “lifeline for the entire population.”
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s attack on October 7 last year, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures which includes hostages killed in captivity.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed 42,344 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations has described as reliable.
 

 


Jordanian minister and US secretary of state discuss crises in Gaza and Lebanon

Updated 23 min 13 sec ago
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Jordanian minister and US secretary of state discuss crises in Gaza and Lebanon

  • Ayman Safadi tells Antony Blinken that Israeli aggression in Gaza, hostilities in Lebanon, and violations in West Bank and Jerusalem must end

LONDON: Jordan’s foreign minister and the US secretary of state on Tuesday discussed the escalating crisis in the region and the urgent need for humanitarian aid in Gaza and Lebanon.

During his telephone conversation with Antony Blinken, Ayman Safadi said that halting Israeli aggression in Gaza remains a crucial first step on the path toward deescalation.

In addition, he emphasized the important need for hostilities in Lebanon to end, calling for the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 to help maintain peace and security in the region. Resolution 1701 was adopted in August 2006 with aim of resolving the conflict that year between Israel and Hezbollah.

He also demanded an end to Israeli escalations in the occupied West Bank and violations at holy sites in Jerusalem, calling for respect for the established historical and legal status quo.

The conversation between the officials came amid an escalation of the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which has resulted in significant numbers of civilian casualties and the continuing decline in an already dire humanitarian situation there, and the expanding conflict between the Israeli army and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Officials said Safadi and Blinken emphasized the need for international collaborations in efforts to address the humanitarian needs arising from the conflicts, and discussed other issues of mutual interest.


Israel assures US it won’t strike Iranian nuclear or oil sites, US officials say

Updated 34 min 53 sec ago
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Israel assures US it won’t strike Iranian nuclear or oil sites, US officials say

  • The officials noted that Israel’s track record on fulfilling pledges in the past is mixed and has often reflected domestic Israeli politics that have upended Washington’s expectations
  • The tit-for-tat strikes and uncertainty about whether Israel might strike strategically important energy and nuclear sites in Iran have raised fears about escalation into an all-out regional war

WASHINGTON: The Biden administration believes it has won assurances from Israel that it will not hit Iranian nuclear or oil sites as it looks to strike back following Iran’s missile barrage earlier this month, two US officials said Tuesday.
The administration also believes that sending a US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery to Israel and roughly 100 soldiers to operate it has eased some of Israel’s concerns about possible Iranian retaliation and general security issues.
The Pentagon on Sunday announced the THAAD deployment to help bolster Israel’s air defenses following Iran’s ballistic missile attacks on Israel in April and October, saying it was authorized at the direction of President Joe Biden.
However, the US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic discussions, cautioned that Israel’s assurances are not ironclad and that circumstances could change.
The officials also noted that Israel’s track record on fulfilling pledges in the past is mixed and has often reflected domestic Israeli politics that have upended Washington’s expectations.
The most recent example of that was last month, when US officials were told by their Israeli counterparts that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would welcome a US- and French-led temporary ceasefire initiative in Lebanon only to see Israel launch a massive airstrike that killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah two days later.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that “‏we listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interests.”
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned their Israeli counterparts in a letter dated Sunday that it must increase the amount of humanitarian aid being allowed into Gaza within the next 30 days or Israel could risk losing access to US weapons funding.
The Middle East has been bracing for an expected response from Israel after Iran launched roughly 180 ballistic missiles on Oct. 1, which the United States helped to fend off. The tit-for-tat strikes and uncertainty about whether Israel might strike strategically important energy and nuclear sites in Iran have raised fears about escalation into an all-out regional war.
Israel’s offensive against Iranian-backed Hamas militants in Gaza has expanded into a ground invasion of Lebanon targeting Hezbollah, another Iranian proxy that has been firing into Israel since the conflict in Gaza started a year ago in solidarity with Hamas.
Biden has said he would not support a retaliatory Israeli strike on sites related to Tehran’s nuclear program and urged Israel to consider alternatives to hitting Iran’s oil sector. Such a strike could affect the global oil market and boost pump prices just ahead of the US presidential election.
Biden and Netanyahu spoke by phone last week for the first time in seven weeks, while Defense Secretary Austin has been speaking regularly with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant.
The Pentagon said in a readout of a call from Sunday that Austin reaffirmed US support for Israel’s security but urged it to ensure protections for UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, shift from military operations to a diplomatic solution and “raised concern for the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and stressed that steps must be taken soon to address it.”
The White House National Security Council declined to confirm that Netanyahu offered Biden any assurances about targets.
“Our commitment to Israel’s defense is ironclad,” the White House National Security Council said in a statement. “We will not discuss private diplomatic discussions and would refer you to the Israeli government to speak to their own potential military operations.”
 

 


‘Nowhere is safe’: Lebanon Christian villiage reels from Israel strike

Updated 41 min 11 sec ago
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‘Nowhere is safe’: Lebanon Christian villiage reels from Israel strike

  • The bombing sent many people fleeing to Lebanon’s mountains, including Christian villages which are coming to fear the cost of hosting displaced communities

AITO: Elie Alwan sheltered a displaced Shiite family from southern Lebanon in his peaceful Christian-majority village, believing they would be safe — instead an Israeli air strike killed them, destroyed his home and injured his mother.
The October 14 strike on the north Lebanon village of Aito in the Zgharta district killed 23 people, including at least 12 women and two children, many of them displaced from south Lebanon, according to the official National News Agency.
“It’s a massacre that happened in my home,” said 42-year-old Alwan.
The attack, which wiped out an entire family, was the first time the mountain village has been struck by Israel, which has mostly targeted Shiite-dominated Hezbollah strongholds.
The four-story building where Alwan lived was destroyed and the displaced family whom he had known for 15 years were wiped out.
“They were a decent family,” said the father of four, blood stains still visible on the rubble-strewn ground beside him.
“I welcomed them as friends.”
Michel Moawad, an MP opposed to Hezbollah and a native of the region, said the strike targeted a member of the pro-Iranian militant group.
A security official, speaking anonymously to AFP, said the strike occurred just after a man arrived by car at the building to visit the displaced family.
“I blame the man who came here. Why did you put us in this mess?” said Alwan, who is now forced to rent a house in the coastal town of Chekka, several kilometers (miles) away.
He was not there during the strike, but his mother was wounded in the leg and was being treated in hospital.

As excavators worked to clear the mountain road a day after the strike, the stench of corpses hung in the air and human remains lay in a ditch at the side of the road.
A statue of Saint Charbel Makhlouf, a Christian Maronite was intact but surrounded by destruction.
The strike sparked alarm across Lebanon’s north and prompted a call for an independent and thorough investigation from the UN rights office.
“We have real concerns with respect to... the laws of war and the principles of distinction, proportion and proportionality,” spokesman Jeremy Laurence told reporters on Monday.
A year of cross-border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah escalated on September 23 when Israel dramatically increased its bombing of Hezbollah strongholds in the country’s east, south and Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The bombing sent many people fleeing to Lebanon’s mountains, including Christian villages which are coming to fear the cost of hosting displaced communities.
“We are Christians, our religion teaches us tolerance. But now we have learned our lesson. We will no longer welcome anyone into the family” home, said Alwan’s brother Sarkis, who lives just next door.
Sarkis did not name Hezbollah but suggested he was angry with the powerful Iran-backed group for dragging Lebanon into a war with Israel.
“We are no match for the United States,” Israel’s main ally, said Sarkis.
Nearby, Adele Khoury was unequivocal in her condemnation of the militant group.
“Hezbollah has brought us into a war from which we can no longer escape,” she said.
Standing beside the church square, the elderly woman said she feared Israel’s string of assassinations of Hezbollah officials would leave no community unharmed.
“We are afraid every day that Israel will come and target us, because wherever there is a (Hezbollah) commander, they target him,” she said.
But when talking about the displaced, she was more sympathetic.
“The poor things, they fled to safe areas, but now nowhere is safe.”
 

 


Israel asks its defense sector to help foil drone attacks

Updated 59 min 18 sec ago
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Israel asks its defense sector to help foil drone attacks

  • On Sunday, Hezbollah said it had attacked the Israeli military’s Golani Brigade in Binyamina in northern Israel with a “swarm of drones”

JERUSALEM: Israel’s government has turned to industry to bolster the military’s ability to intercept aerial drones launched by Iran or the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.
The Defense Ministry said on Tuesday it had launched a competition among eight large and small companies.
“After analizing the trial results, the Defense Ministry will select several technologies to enter an accelerated development and production process. This aims to deploy new operational capabilities within months,” it said.
In addition to missiles, Iran, Hezbollah and others have used drones in attacks on Israel.
On Sunday, Hezbollah said it had attacked the Israeli military’s Golani Brigade in Binyamina in northern Israel with a “swarm of drones.” It said some of the drones, which included models it had not used before, had eluded Israeli air defense radar.
Israel’s military said four of its soldiers had been killed and seven severely injured.
“The UAV threat is a multi-arena threat originating from Iran, which supplies UAVs to Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq, and even launches them itself,” said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“We must concentrate the national effort ... to produce operational solutions quickly.”
The ministry’s director general, Eyal Zamir, said it had already invested hundreds of millions of shekels in such capabilities.
Those participating include Israel’s top defense firms, Elbit Systems, Rafael, and Israel Aerospace Industries.