Two Jordanians cross into Israel, are arrested by army

Two Jordanian nationals were arrested early Sunday after they crossed illegally into the country, the Israel Defense Forces said.

According to a statement from the military, IDF soldiers identified the two suspects overnight, after they crossed the border fence.

The troops stopped and arrested the pair near the border, the statement said, adding that they were carrying no weapons.

They have been taken for questioning to determine why they crossed the border.

The statement did not specify where along the border the incident took place.

Though the border with Jordan is generally one of Israel’s most peaceful — the countries signed a peace treaty in 1994 — there have been cases of violence against Israelis by Jordanians.

The most recent example occurred on November 30, 2018, when a Jordanian man who was employed in the southern port city of Eilat attacked two Israeli divers with a hammer, seriously wounding them. A second Jordanian worker who tried to restrain the attacker was lightly hurt.

Taher Halef was charged with terror offenses in December, with the indictment saying he had been planning to attack Israelis for over a decade. He was accused of several counts of attempted murder, as well as a terrorist conspiracy.

Israel in 2014 granted permission for 1,500 Jordanians to work in Eilat, the Red Sea resort town located directly across the border from the Jordanian city of Aqaba.