Middle East updates: 3 killed at West Bank-Jordan border

Jordan's interior ministry identified the man who shot and killed 3 people in the West Bank as one of its citizens.

The Israeli military had previously said that "a terrorist" had reached the Allenby Bridge crossing area, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, in a truck from Jordan.

The driver is said to have "exited the truck and opened fire at Israeli security forces operating at the bridge," according to a military statement.

The attacker was shot dead at the scene, the military added.

Jordanian authorities identified the shooter as one of its nationals, citing "preliminary investigations." The man was reportedly a retired Jordanian soldier.

Jordan is now investigating the shooting, state-run Petra News Agency reported.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is set on Sunday to begin a diplomatic tour through the Middle East, with stops in Egypt and Lebanon.

Borrell's trip comes amid a new wave of pressure to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza and secure the release of remaining hostages held by militants following the discovery of six dead hostages.

The EU top diplomat is scheduled to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo on Monday.

He is set to visit  Rafah border crossing, according to his office. 

A meeting with mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US "is high on the agenda," his office said.

On Tuesday, Borrell is scheduled to meet with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.

He is set to participate in a meeting of the influential Arab League as well.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Borrell will be in Lebanon where he will meet with Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri and Lebanese Armed Forces Commander General Joseph Aoun. 

He will also meet with Lebanon's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Abdallah Bou Habib. 

Borrell will discuss with his Lebanese counterpart the EU's support for "Lebanon's resilience and stability" and Lebanon's role in the region. 

A visit to Israel is not planned, according to the statement. 

The Qatar Red Crescent and the main UN agency in Gaza (UNRWA) signed an agreement on Saturday — with $4.5 million from a Qatari state development fund — to aid more than 4,400 stranded Palestinian workers and patients from Gaza in the occupied West Bank.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Sunday that at least 40,972 people have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The toll includes 33 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which says that 94,761 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7. 

An Israeli airstrike has killed Mohammed Morsi, the deputy director of the Gaza Civil Emergency Service in the north of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials said Sunday.

The strike on his house in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp also killed four members of his family, according to the officials.

In a statement, the Civil Emergency Service said 83 of its members have now been killed by Israeli fire since October 7.

There was no immediate Israeli comment on the strike.

Israel's emergency service has said three people had been shot and killed near the Allenby Bridge Crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan on Sunday morning.

"We found three men lying unconscious, with no pulse and not breathing, with gunshot wounds. Together with the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] medical team, we performed resuscitation efforts, but unfortunately, we had to declare their deaths on scene," said a statement from the Magen David Adom emergency service.

Israeli police said separately that an attacker had been "neutralized" and that there had been a "shooting attack."

The Israeli military said a gunman approached the crossing from the Jordanian side in a truck and opened fire at Israeli security forces, who killed the assailant in a gunfight. It said the three people killed were Israeli civilians.

The military later clarified that the three men were "working as security guards" and were not members of the army or police force.

The border crossing is used by Palestinians, Israelis and international tourists.

Authorities in Israel and Jordan said the crossing was closed until further notice, and Israel later announced the closure of both of its land crossings with Jordan, near Beit Shean in the north and Eilat in the south.

The occupied West Bank has seen a rise in violence since the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas on Israel, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.

The incidents include Israeli raids into Palestinian residential areas, Palestinian attacks on Israelis and attacks by Jewish settlers targeting Palestinians.

The Lebanese Hezbollah militia said Sunday it had launched rockets at the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona early in the day, partly in response to an attack that killed emergency workers in the village of Froun a day earlier.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said three emergency responders were killed and two others wounded, one of them critically, in the strike on Saturday, which it has blamed on Israel.

For its part, the Israeli military said it had "eliminated terrorists" from the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement in Froun.

It also said on Sunday that it had carried out a number of airstrikes on "Hezbollah military structures" after intercepting projectiles launched from Lebanon.

The military said in a statement that the Israeli air force targeted sites "in the areas of Aitaroun, Maroun El Ras, and Yaroun in southern Lebanon."

The situation at the Lebanese-Israeli border has been escalating steadily in recent months, with tens of thousands displaced on both sides amid cross-border attacks between the Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel.

tj/nm (Reuters, AFP)