By Joshua Marks
Three security guards at the Allenby Bridge crossing in the Jordan Valley were killed in a terrorist shooting on Sunday morning.
The gunman, who according to the IDF was a Jordanian citizen, was killed, and Israeli forces were conducting scans of the area to ensure there were no more terrorists in the area.
Magen David Adom emergency service spokesperson Zaki Heller said that “after resuscitation operations, MDA medics and paramedics in cooperation with the IDF medical force pronounced the deaths of three men about 50 years old with gunshot wounds to their bodies.”
The victims were named as Yohanan Shchori, 61, a father of six from Ma’ale Efraim in the West Bank; Yuri Birnbaum, 65, from Moshav Na’ama north of Jericho in the West Bank; and Adrian Marcelo Podzamczer, 57, from the city of Ariel in the West Bank.
Podzamczer’s son Sebastian survived the Hamas terrorist massacre at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023. He was a friend of Almog Sarusi, one of the six hostages murdered by Hamas at the end of August.
The perpetrator was named as Maher D’yab Hussein Jazi, a 39-year-old truck driver from the city of Irbid.
The IDF said that the terrorist drove in a truck to the crossing from the Jordanian side. The terrorist then exited the vehicle and began firing at forces guarding the crossing. Security forces were working to rule out suspicions that the truck was laced with explosives.
Jordan’s Interior Ministry announced the “beginning of the investigation into the shooting incident” at the border. A Jordanian security official told Arab media that the Allenby crossing was closed on the Jordanian side following the attack.
The crossing was also closed on the Israeli side and security forces cordoned off nearby Jericho to rule out the presence of additional terrorists who may have crossed the border.
The Allenby Bridge, known in Jordan as the King Hussein Bridge, located around three miles east of Jericho, connects the West Bank (Judea and Samaria in Hebrew) with the Hashemite kingdom. The terminal is used mostly by Palestinians and foreign tourists and is forbidden for Israeli citizens, except for Muslims making a pilgrimage to Mecca.
David Elhayani, head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council, told Channel 13, “We have known for several months from conversations with the military that they are aware of what is happening in Jordan, and are aware that the Palestinian population in Jordan supports Hamas and encourages it.”
He continued, “The army knows this and prepared for it, but they did not think that it can come from a bridge of apparent peace. The result is very difficult.”
Last Sunday, Sept. 1, three Israeli police officers were killed in a drive-by shooting near the Tarqumiya checkpoint, some 7.5 miles northwest of Hebron in the West Bank..
They were identified as Ch. Insp. Arik Ben Eliyahu, 37, from Kiryat Gat, who is survived by his wife and three children; Command Sgt. Maj. Hadas Branch, 53, from Moshav Sde Moshe, who is survived by her husband, three children and granddaughter; and 1st Sgt. Roni Shakuri, 61, from Sderot, who is survived by his wife, daughter and granddaughter.
Shakuri’s other daughter, 1st Sgt. Mor Shakuri, 29, was killed in Sderot on Oct. 7 while fighting Hamas terrorists attempting to take control of the city’s police station.
