Military supplies captured by Israeli forces in the Sinai campaign are valued at more than $70,000,000 Israeli military circles estimated today. This huge quantity of guns, artillery, armored vehicles, ammunition and other war materiel was seen as confirming earlier, secret evidence which Israel had received of the Egyptian build-up.
The retreating Egyptians left huge supply depots completely untouched, it was revealed here. In one dump, which stretched more than ten miles along the El Arish-Ismailia railroad, there were millions of pieces of weapons, munitions and spare parts for a large variety of equipment used by the ground and air forces. The supplies in this dump were enough to keep a whole army corps going for weeks.
In Nekhal, where only a small detachment was stationed, enough war materiel was found to supply a brigade. In the southernmost area of the Sinai Peninsula, the victorious Israelis found Soviet manufactured tanks and half-tracks. One of the areas overrun by the Israelis contained a number of oil wells.
Meanwhile both the government and military headquarters have announced that the Sinai campaign is ended and that the troops have been given strict orders to maintain a cease-fire. The Israel Government has so informed the United Nations, in reply to the General Assembly’s demand for a cease-fire.
Work was in full swing today on the repairs of the few kilometres of railroad track destroyed after the war of 1948 when Egypt took over the Gaza strip and in the recent fighting, in order to link the Asmailia-El Arish-Rafah-Gaza line with the Ascalon-Haifa road. It is estimated that within a week traffic will be moving from Acre, in northern Israel, all along the Mediterranean coast to within ten miles of the Suez Canal.
It was learned today that the Egyptian garrisons on Tiran and Sanafir islands at the head of the Red Sea, were evacuated by Saudi Arabian craft when Israeli planes began a softening up operation in advance of amphibious landings on the islands Artillery on the islands and the nearby coast of the Sinai Peninsula have blockaded shipping to or from Elath at the head of the Gulf of Akaba.
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