The security forces “neutralised” the attacker, the military said, while Israel’s main opposition leader Yair Lapid said the victims were Israelis.

Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom said the attacker, who was reportedly armed with a gun and a knife, killed two men.

The men, aged about 20 and 60, were wounded in the attack at the Allenby crossing and received initial treatment at the scene before being pronounced dead, the MDA said in a statement.

“We continued the medical care, including resuscitation efforts, at the end of which we sadly had to pronounce them deceased,” the MDA quoted one of its medics as saying.

The Israeli military said the attacker had arrived from Jordan.

“A terrorist arrived in a truck transporting humanitarian aid from Jordan, and opened fire,” the military said.

“The security forces neutralised the terrorist at the scene.”

A queue of vehicles was seen as Israeli police closed off a road leading to the crossing, an AFP journalist reported.

Jordanian government spokesman Mohamad Momani said the authorities in the kingdom were looking into the reports.

“We are following up news reports about a security incident on the other side of King Hussein bridge (Allenby),” he said, adding “we will announce later any details we get on that”.

The Jordanian security department spokesperson said “the Israelis closed the other side while the bridge is still open from the Jordanian side”.

Israel’s Channel 12 television network reported that the attacker was a Jordanian, but there was no immediate confirmation of this.

The Chanel 12 report said the attacker opened fire and stabbed the victims, showing images of a blood-stained knife and a gun on the ground.

“A severe terror attack today at the Allenby Crossing in which two Israelis were murdered,” Lapid wrote on X.

“We must not get used to the routine of terror attacks and this loss of control.”

The Allenby crossing, in the Jordan Valley, is the only international gateway for Palestinians from the West Bank that does not require entering Israel, which has occupied the territory since 1967.

In September 2024, a Jordanian truck driver shot dead three Israeli guards at the crossing before he was killed.

Thursday’s attack comes as the Israeli military pounded Gaza City with artillery shelling and air strikes, forcing thousands of people to flee to southern Gaza.

Violence in the West Bank has also surged alongside the Gaza war, which began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

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© Agence France-Presse