Two Israelis killed at Jordan border crossing while coordinating Gaza aid
A Jordanian terrorist killed two Israeli soldiers in a combined shooting and stabbing attack at Israel’s Allenby Crossing with the Hashemite Kingdom on Thursday afternoon, the Israel Defence Forces said.
Sgt. Oran Hershko and Lt. Col. (res) Yitzhak Harosh
The IDF identified the slain troops as Sgt. Oran Hershko, 20, a liaison officer in the army’s international cooperation unit, and Lt. Col. (res.) Yitzhak Harosh, 68, an officer in the Civil Administration’s Unit 309.
The death toll among Israeli troops on all fronts since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, now stands at 910.
“Following the initial report regarding a shooting adjacent to the Allenby Crossing, a terrorist arrived in a truck transporting humanitarian aid from Jordan and opened fire,” the IDF had said following the attack.
“The security forces neutralized the terrorist at the scene,” it added.
Israel’s Magen David Adom medical response group confirmed that paramedics treated two men, one in his 60s and one in his 20s, for gunshot wounds. They were subsequently pronounced dead.
The military said soldiers were conducting searches and encircled the city of Jericho in the Jordan Valley as part of its response to the attack.
An Israeli security source told Channel 12 that the terrorist was a civilian hired by the Jordanian Armed Forces to transport aid to Gaza. He was said to have attacked while waiting for his truck to be inspected.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir advised Jerusalem’s political echelons to halt the delivery of humanitarian aid from Jordan in the wake of the attack, the military said in a statement on Thursday night.
After consulting with IDF Central Command and the Israeli Defence Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit, Zamir advised pausing the deliveries pending the investigation into the incident and “the implementation of revised screening procedures for Jordanian drivers,” per the statement.
Meanwhile, Jerusalem’s Foreign Ministry wrote in an X post that the terror attack was “yet another result of the vile incitement in Jordan.
“Israel facilitates humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the terrorists exploit it to murder Israelis,” the ministry wrote in English, adding: “This is the result of the echoing of Hamas’s campaign of lies.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel wrote that “Radical Islamists stop at nothing – turning even humanitarian aid, meant to serve civilians, into a weapon of war.
“This incitement of violence towards Israel must immediately stop,” the deputy minister tweeted. “May the memory of the victims be a blessing.”
Just over a year ago, on Sept. 8, 2024, a Jordanian terrorist opened fire at the Allenby Crossing, murdering three Israelis. Israel’s military said the terrorist drove in a truck to the crossing from the Jordanian side. He then exited the vehicle and began firing at forces guarding the crossing.
Following the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to work with Jordan to strengthen the Jewish state’s eastern border and maintain “peace and security” in the frontier region.
“In this multifront battle, we know we need to secure our eastern border with Jordan. It is a border of peace,” the prime minister declared. “We cooperate with the Kingdom of Jordan to ensure that it remains so.”
JNS
