Sunday's fatal shootings near the Israeli embassy in Amman, in which two Jordanians were shot dead by an Israeli security guard, have drawn comparisons with a previous diplomatic crisis between Jordan and Israel.

Some users of social media have drawn comparisons between Sunday's shooting near the Israeli embassy and Mossad's failed attempt to assassinate senior Hamas official Khaled Mashal in Amman in 1997.

It was reported that two Mossad agents, carrying fake Canadian passports, entered Jordan with the intention of killing Mashal.

As the senior Hamas official left the Hamas offices in the Jordanian capital on September 25, 1997, the two agents approached him, with one injecting him with a fast-acting poison behind his left ear.

The two agents were quickly captured and Mashal fell into a coma and was hospitalised.

The attempted assassination led to a serious diplomatic crisis between the Kingdom and Israel, with King Hussein even threatening to void the 1994 Wadi Araba peace treaty between the two countries if Mashal died.

The intervention of then-US President Bill Clinton led to Israel agreeing to turn over the antidote to the poison, with the head of Mossad, Danny Yatom, personally delivering the antidote to Amman.

While the circumstance of the embassy shootings are still unclear, some users of Twitter have drawn parallels with the 1997 diplomatic crisis, with some urging Jordan to take a similar stance.

“I hope that Jordan's position will be firm, as in the case of Khaled Mashal”, wrote Ahmad Al Dwairy on Twitter.

اتمنى ان يكون موقف الاردن حازماً كما في قضية خالد مشعل !

— Ahmad al-Dwairy (@DwairyAhmad) July 24, 2017

Emad Abu Jahisha wrote that 'If the Jordanian Government has a sense of patriotism, they will repeat the scenario in '97 with mujahid Khaled Mashal.'

اذا الحكومة الاردنية عندها حس وطني .. يعيدون سيناريو 97 مع المجاهد خالد مشعل ... خطوة تحسب لهم ويسجلها التاريخ

— أ.معاذ ابو جحيشه (@a_alnaqab) July 24, 2017

Tarek Ahmad also drew comparisons with the botched assassination attempt in 1997, writing that he hoped that Jordan “will make political gains” as a result of the crisis.

محاولة اغتيال خالد مشعل بالتسعينات تعيد نفسها بشكل اخر نتمنى ان يخرج الاردن بمكاسب سياسية

— طارق احمد (@tarek29952812) July 24, 2017