Israeli aircraft pounded Egyptian positions along the Suez Canal for the 61st consecutive day today, and strafed Jordanian positions as well. The latter action, which lasted an hour, was in response to mortar attacks on Kfar Ruppin from Jordanian territory last night. The Yotveta area in the Araba was also hit from Jordan last night, Israel asked the International Red Cross to help return the body of Shmuel Hetz, the pilot who was apparently killed when his plane–now confirmed as being a Phantom–was shot down over Egypt Saturday. A Cairo communique quoted the plane’s other pilot, Maj. Menahem Eini, who was captured, as saying that Capt. Hetz had been killed in the plane as it exploded, and had not bailed out, as earlier believed. In reporting this latest air tragedy, the Israeli press today said the nation’s Air Force is in the vanguard of the fight against Soviet expansionism and bears the full burden of that fight on behalf of the free world. (In Washington, American intelligence sources said anti-aircraft missiles resembling the United States’ Redeye have been fired by Egypt in attempts to repel Israeli attacks on SAM-2 sites. The sources said that so far, according to their Information, the new missiles have not hit any Israeli Jets.) Maj. Richard Fox, the United Nations observer who was injured by Egyptian fire last Thursday, Is expected to be released from Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem within a few days. Doctors described his condition as satisfactory. He serves as operations officer at UN headquarters in Jerusalem.
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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.
