Reprisal operations

Part of the Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency (during Arab–Israeli conflict)

Date	1950s–1960s
Location	Middle East
Result	Decisive Israeli victory

Belligerents

Israel

All-Palestine

Palestinian fedayeen

Supported by:

Egypt

Jordan

Syria

Commanders and leaders

David Ben-Gurion
Moshe Sharett
Levi Eshkol

Gamal Abdel Nasser
Hafez al-Assad
Hussein bin Talal

Strength

Unknown

Casualties and losses

400–967 civilians and soldiers killed during this period by fedayeen attacks (1951–55)

2,700–5,000 Arab soldiers and Palestinians* killed by retribution operations (1951–55)

Both guerrillas and civilians

All-Palestine

Reprisal operations (Hebrew: פעולות התגמול‎, Pe'ulot HaTagmul) were raids carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in the 1950s and 1960s in response to frequent fedayeen attacks during which armed Arab militants infiltrated Israel from Syria, Egypt and Jordan to carry out attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers. Most of Reprisal operations followed raids that resulted in Israeli fatalities. The goal of these operations was to create deterrence and prevent future attacks. Two other factors behind the raids were restoring public morale and training newly formed army units.

Reprisal operations were carried out following raids by armed infiltrators into Israel during the entire period from 1948 Arab–Israeli War until October 1956. Most of Reprisal operations followed raids that resulted in Israeli fatalities. From 1949 to 1954 the reprisal operations were directed against Jordan. In 1954 the Jordanian authorities decided to curb the infiltration due to fierce Israeli activity, and the cross-border infiltration from Jordan substantially declined, along with the amount of victims. The IDF stopped the reprisals against Jordan from September of that year.

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Wikipedia