Gunman kills 2 at Israeli-run crossing between West Bank and Jordan. 4
soldiers killed in Gaza
[September 19, 2025]
By ISAAC SCHARF and AREEJ HAZBOUN
JERUSALEM (AP) — A Jordanian aid truck driver opened fire and killed two
people at an Israeli-run border crossing in the occupied West Bank on
Thursday, officials said. The Israeli military also said that four
soldiers were killed in the southern Gaza Strip, and that a drone had
struck in the area of the southern Israeli city of Eilat.
The Israeli military referred to the shooting at the crossing with
Jordan as a militant attack. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service
said that two men, around 60 and 20 years old, were killed. The military
said the attacker had been “neutralized," without elaborating.
Jordan's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack and identified the
shooter as Abdel-Mutalib al-Qaisi, a man in his late 50s who it said had
been driving aid trucks bound for Gaza for three months.
Three Israelis were killed in a September 2024 attack at the crossing,
when a retired Jordanian soldier opened fire. That attack appeared to be
linked to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The Allenby Bridge Crossing over
the Jordan River, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, is mainly used
by Palestinians and tourists. It was closed after the attack.
The military said the drone had been launched "from the east,” without
elaborating. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have repeatedly fired
drones and missiles at Israel, often drawing retaliatory airstrikes.
A missile fired from Yemen set off air raid sirens late Thursday, and
the boom of interceptors could be heard in Jerusalem. There were no
immediate reports of casualties or damage from the drone or the missile.
Soldiers' deaths could further erode Israeli support for war
Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in
the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three for a future
state. Violence has surged across the occupied West Bank since the
Hamas-led attack from Gaza into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which
ignited the latest war.
Israel is waging a major ground offensive in Gaza City that has forced
nearly 250,000 Palestinians to flee, according to the United Nations.
Hundreds of thousands remain in the city, large parts of which have
already been destroyed in previous Israeli raids.
The four soldiers were killed by an explosive device during an operation
in Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah, said Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the
Israeli military spokesman.
They are the first casualties to be announced since Israel launched its
offensive in Gaza City, in the north.
Such deaths could further erode support for the war among Israelis who
fear that the fighting puts soldiers and hostages at risk. At least 460
Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ground invasion of Gaza in
October 2023.
The war has killed at least 65,141 Palestinians, according to the Gaza
Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government. U.N.
agencies and many independent experts consider its figures to be the
most reliable estimate of wartime casualties. It does not say how many
of those killed were civilians or combatants.
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Displaced Palestinians flee Gaza City by foot and vehicles, carrying
their belongings along the coastal road toward southern Gaza,
Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack
that started the war and abducted 251 others. Forty-eight hostages
remain in Gaza, around 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive,
after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals.
Israel cuts funding for award ceremony over film about
Palestinian boy
Israel’s culture minister has cut funding for the country’s most
prestigious film awards ceremony, saying this year’s best feature
winner “spits” on Israeli soldiers.
Miki Zohar said that he was taking the step in response to Tuesday’s
Ophir Award for “The Sea” — a story about a 12-year-old Palestinian
boy who sneaks into Israel from the West Bank in a quest to see the
sea for the first time. The film will now represent Israel in the
Oscar awards.
Zohar, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party,
said that he was halting funding for the ceremony because of the
film’s depiction of Israeli soldiers.
“On my watch, the citizens of Israel will not pay out of their
pockets for a disgraceful ceremony that spits on the heroic Israeli
soldiers,” he said in an X post. “The citizens of Israel deserve for
their tax money to go to more important and valuable places.”
Israeli military to indict former officer over Lebanon ambush
The Israeli military said Thursday that it plans on indicting a
former senior officer in connection with the deaths of two Israelis
in a Hezbollah ambush in southern Lebanon last November.
Col. Yoav Yarom, who was the chief of staff of the army’s Golani
infantry brigade, stepped down after the incident. Zeev Erlich, 70,
and Gur Kehati, a 20-year-old soldier, were killed.
At the time, the army launched an investigation to determine who
allowed Erlich into the combat zone with the forces and why he was
allowed to enter.
In a statement Thursday, the army said its military prosecutor plans
on filing charges against Yarom, pending a preindictment hearing.
Such a hearing is a standard procedure.
According to Israeli media reports, Erlich wasn't on active duty
when he was shot, but was wearing a military uniform and had a
weapon. Erlich was a well-known West Bank settler and researcher of
Jewish history. Media reports said he was permitted to enter Lebanon
to explore a local archaeological site.
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Associated Press reporter Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan, contributed.
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