Battles of Negba

Part of 1948 Arab–Israeli War

Negba water tower, showing shell damage

Date	June 2, 1948 (1st battle) July 12, 1948 (2nd battle)
Location	Negba, Israel Coordinates: 31°39′39.24″N 34°40′59.16″E / 31.6609000°N 34.6831000°E / 31.6609000; 34.6831000
Result	Israeli victory

Belligerents

Israel (IDF)

Egypt

Commanders and leaders

Shimon Avidan (Givati)
Yitzhak "Yoav" Dubno (local, KIA)

Ahmed Ali al-Mwawi
Muhammad Naguib (4th Brig.)
Sa'ad ad-Din Rahmani (9th Btn.)

Strength

~140

Reinforced battalion

Casualties and losses

8 killed, 11 wounded (1st battle)
5 killed, 16 wounded (2nd battle)

Israeli Estimates:
~100 killed and wounded (1st battle)
~200–300 killed and wounded (2nd battle)

The Battles of Negba were a series of military engagements between the Israel Defense Forces and the Egyptian army in the 1948 War of Independence. Negba, a kibbutz founded in 1939, had a strategic position overlooking the Majdal – Bayt Jibrin road, and was a target of two major assaults by the Egyptians in June and July 1948.

On June 2, the Egyptians attacked the village from the south with a battalion reinforced with armor, artillery, and aircraft, and were beaten back by 140 defenders, who were assisted by motorized Negev Brigade forces. The second attack took place on July 12, when the Egyptians staged diversionary assaults on nearby positions and surrounded Negba from all sides, again with a reinforced battalion. This attack was also dispersed, and Negba remained in Israeli hands, serving as a forward base for attacks against Egyptian forces up to Operation Yoav.

Kibbutz Negba was founded in 1939 as a settlement, the first lasting modern Jewish settlement in the Negev desert. At the outset of the second stage of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Negba was the southernmost village of the main Israeli-controlled land mass, and was not isolated like the nearby Nitzanim, Kfar Darom and the northern Negev settlements mainly founded as part of the 11 points in the Negev plan.

The Egyptian army invaded Israel on May 15, after Israel's declaration of independence on the previous day. Its main force moved up the coastal road, and engaged in a battle in Kfar Darom on May 15 and the Battle of Yad Mordechai on May 19–24. The column reached Majdal on May 14. From there, forces were sent north to Isdud, reaching it on May 29, and to Bayt Jibrin through Fallujah on June 1, cutting a wedge between Israeli-held northern Negev and the rest of Israel. They finally disconnected the Negev by taking up position on the Majdal – Bayt Jibrin road during the first truce of the war (June 11 – July 8).

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Wikipedia