AMMAN, Jordan – A gunman opened fire outside the Israeli embassy in Jordan early Sunday morning, a security source and state media said, adding that the individual had been killed and three police officers were injured in the incident.
Police shot an armed man who had targeted a police patrol in the Rabiah neighborhood of Amman with his firearm, the government news agency Petra reported, citing public security services. She noted that an investigation was currently underway.
Jordanian Communications Minister Mohamed Momani, for his part, spoke of a terrorist attack targeting public security forces in the kingdom, adding that investigations had been launched.
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Jordanian police had earlier cordoned off an area near the embassy – heavily guarded – after shots were heard, witnesses said. Two witnesses reported that police and emergency services rushed to the Rabiah neighborhood, where the embassy is located.
Police asked residents to stay at home while security services searched for the culprit, a source close to the security services noted.
The neighborhood hosts frequent anti-Israel protests.
It is in the kingdom that some of the largest rallies in the region have taken place, while anti-Israeli sentiment is currently running high in Arab countries due to the war in Gaza – a war that was sparked by the pogrom committed by the Hamas terrorist group in southern Israel, October 7, 2023.
In March, Jordanian riot police had to use tear gas to push back hundreds of demonstrators who marched on the embassy to protest the military operation.
General view of the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan, August 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)
Israeli Ambassador Rogel Rachman has returned to the Jewish state since leaving Jordan for security reasons in the wake of the October 7 massacre.
Bilateral relations, established in 1994 but which have long remained very unpopular within the Hashemite kingdom, were further damaged in 2017 after a deadly shooting which involved a guard at the Israeli embassy in Amman.
Two Jordanians were killed and Israeli security guard Ziv Moyal was injured inside the embassy during an apparent altercation. Details of the incident had been at the heart of a dispute between Israel and Jordan.
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