Israeli jet planes went into action on two fronts today to silence Jordanian and Egyptian artillery which had been pounding Israeli positions for hours. A military spokesman said one Israeli soldier was killed and two were wounded by Jordanian shells near the Abdallah bridge in the southern Jordan Valley just north of the Dead Sea. Thirteen Israeli soldiers were wounded, four of them seriously, in an Egyptian barrage south of Port Tewfik near the southern access to the Suez Canal. The Israeli targets in the canal zone were Egyptian shore batteries at Adabyieh, south of Port Suez where the Egyptians massed 155 guns.
Direct hits were scored on Jordanian positions in an aerial sortie that lasted only a few minutes. Fires were seen rising from Jordanian tanks. A military spokesman said the Jordanians started their attack with tank cannon and artillery at about noon. The firing lasted until 4 p.m. when the Israeli jets went into action. There was no further shooting. The Egyptians commenced hostilities with small arms fire this morning north of Port Suez and then attacked with mortars in the Ismailia area at the canal’s midpoint. Egyptian artillery went into action at 3:45 p.m. local time, a military spokesman said.
ROCKETS LAUNCHED FROM LEBANESE TERRITORY FAIL TO HARM UPPER GALILEE SETTLEMENTS
Several rockets, apparently from Katyusha launchers on Lebanese territory exploded in the fields around Kiryat Shemona and Kfar Yuval in Upper Galilee shortly after midnight today. The rockets sent settlers into bomb shelters but caused no casualties or damage. Israeli units returned the fire.
Three Israeli soldiers were wounded in the Suez Canal zone yesterday, one by an Egyptian sniper and the others by mortar shells fired in the southern sector of the waterway. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan visited Israeli positions on the canal’s east bank yesterday. He was accompanied by Chief of Staff Chaim Bar-Lev and Gen. Yeshayahu Gavish, commander of the southern front.
A small water conduit was damaged by an explosion last night near Kahn Yunis in the Gaza Strip. An Israeli outpost near Tirat Zvi in the southern Beisan Valley was fired on by Jordanian forces last night. It was the first attack in that area since Sunday’s Israeli air raid which damaged the Ghor irrigation canal Israeli units returned the fire and suffered no casualties.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
