Israeli jets today attacked Egyptian positions along the Suez Canal and on the western shores of the Gulf of Suez. The aircraft were reported to have returned safely after both sorties.
(The Columbia Broadcasting System said that one of the attacks occurred at night and was the first night attack since the 1967 war. Targets were said to have been Egyptian troops who were taking advantage of the darkness to repair bombed installations.)
The air attacks on that area have been an almost daily occurrence since Israeli amphibious forces carried out a 10-hour assault on Egyptian fortifications and radar installations on the Gulf of Suez Sept. 9. The raids have caused most of the inhabitants of the region to flee and have prevented the Egyptians from repairing their fortifications.
According to Israeli sources, the impact of these continuous and unopposed attacks on Egyptian morale was responsible for Cairo’s claims of successful commando raids on Israeli positions deep in the Sinai Desert which Israel says never occurred.
Bazookas and several mortar shells were fired last night at Israeli forces near Ashdod Yaacov in the Beisan Valley. Mortar shells also landed on Nahal Golan in the southern Golan Heights. A military spokesman said the fire was returned. There were no Israeli casualties or damage.
A bus loaded with farmers and workers narrowly escaped a bazooka attack near the Lebanese border today. A bazooka shell exploded directly in front of the vehicle. The driver accelerated and avoided a burst of automatic fire. The incident occurred near Yaron settlement less than 200 yards from the frontier. The bus was carrying workers from the northern Galilee settlements of Baram and Yaron.
A month-long curfew on the Beit Sahur area south of Jerusalem was lifted today following a meeting between the Israeli military governor, Brig. Rafael Vardi, and several sheikhs and the mayor of Beit Sahur. The curfew, which had been in effect for 20 hours daily, was imposed after Katyusha rockets were fired from the Beit Sahur region at the southern suburbs of Jerusalem. Israeli forces later found 13 rocket launchers lined up and ready to fire. They concluded that the guerrillas could not have set up the rockets without aid from local inhabitants. The curfew affected about 35 Bedouin families who live in the region.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
