Battle of Be'erot Yitzhak

Part of 1948 Arab–Israeli War

The damaged water tower in Be'erot Yitzhak, 15 February 2012

Date	July 15, 1948
Location	Present-day Nahal Oz, Israel
Result	Israeli victory

Belligerents

Israel (IDF)

Egypt

Commanders and leaders

Shimon Forsher (local)
Simha Shiloni (reinforcements)

Strength

65 men, 20 women (defenders)

section of two 65 mm Napoleonchik field cannons, 9 jeeps, 6 half-tracks (reinforcements)

Reinforced battalion

Casualties and losses

17 killed, 15 wounded

~170–200 killed and wounded

65 men, 20 women (defenders)

The Battle of Be'erot Yitzhak was a military engagement between the Israel Defense Forces and Egyptian army in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was fought on July 15, 1948, in the ten-day period between the first and second truces of the war.

The Egyptian army, after unsuccessful attacks on Negba on July 12 and Gal On on July 14, assaulted the lightly defended outlying Negev village Be'erot Yitzhak. They managed to penetrate the village perimeter, but the Israelis concentrated in an inner position in the village, and fought off the Egyptian advance until reinforcements arrived and drove out the attackers.

Be'erot Yitzhak was a kibbutz founded in 1943 on the site of today's Alumim and Nahal Oz by immigrants from Czechoslovakia and Germany of the HaPoel HaMizrachi movement. Originally an isolated settlement, it served as a staging point for found three new villages as part of the 11 points in the Negev plan—Kfar Darom, Be'eri and Tkuma. In the first stage of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Jewish settlements in the Negev desert were put under the command of the Negev Brigade, with Be'erot Yitzhak falling under the jurisdiction of the 2nd Battalion.

Upon termination of the British mandate, the Egyptian army, along with those of several other Arab states, immediately invaded Israel on May 15, 1948. The mothers and children of Be'erot Yitzhak were evacuated the next day, leaving behind about 90 workers and paramilitaries, around 30 of them women. On that day, two Egyptian companies attempted an assault on the village, but turned back after fire was exchanged with the Israelis.

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Wikipedia