Battle of Rafah (1949)

Battle of Rafah
Part of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
Date 3 January – 8 January 1949 Location Rafah, Palestine 31°17′19″N 34°15′07″E / 31.28861°N 34.25194°E / 31.28861; 34.25194 Result Inconclusive 1949 Armistice Agreements
Belligerents
Israel	Egypt
Commanders and leaders
David Ben-Gurion David Elazar Yigal Allon	Farouk I Ibrahim Abdel Hady
Battle of Rafah class=notpageimage| Location within Mandatory Palestine

The Battle of Rafah was a military engagement between the Israel Defense Forces and the Egyptian Army in the final stage of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was fought on January 3–8, 1949, just south of Rafah, today in the Gaza Strip. The battle was initiated by Israel as part of Operation Horev, on the backdrop of the Sinai battles just before. The Israelis were hoping to encircle all Egyptian forces in Palestine and drive them back to Egypt.

The Golani and Harel brigades were allocated for the attack, with the 8th Brigade serving as the operational reserve and the Negev Brigade staging diversions. While the Israelis had great trouble to advance in their individual assaults, eventually a battalion-sized force managed to take a position on the road from Rafah to the Sinai Peninsula, effectively surrounding the Egyptian expeditionary force. However, by this time the Egyptians agreed to negotiate armistice and the Israeli political echelon therefore ordered all troops back. The battle of Rafah was the last major combat operation in the war and was followed by the armistice agreements with Egypt.