Two Israeli soldiers were killed in a shooting and stabbing attack near Allenby Crossing between the West Bank and Jordan on Thursday. The assailant was a Jordanian who had been driving a humanitarian aid truck headed for the Gaza Strip.

The perpetrator arrived at Allenby Crossing from the Jordanian side at around 3 p.m., driving a truck transporting humanitarian aid intended for the Gaza Strip. Upon his arrival, he opened fire at soldiers at the crossing with a handgun, before the truck could be inspected, a preliminary military investigation found.

He then got out of the truck and, after his gun apparently jammed, stabbed the two soldiers repeatedly until security guards at the crossing opened fire at him, killing him.

The slain soldiers were named as: Lt. Col. (res.) Yitzhak Harosh, 68, a reservist in the Civil Administration, from Jerusalem, and Sgt. Oran Hershko, 20, a liaison officer with foreign forces in the IDF’s Tevel international cooperation unit, from Tel Mond.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that security forces had “neutralized the terrorist” at the scene of the attack, adding that troops were carrying out scans in the area for additional suspects and briefly encircled the nearby West Bank town of Jericho. The IDF lifted its partial closure on the city after an hour.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that the attacker was a citizen of Jordan, and blamed the assault on Jordanian incitement.

“Israel facilitates humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the terrorists exploit it to........

© The Times of Israel