Operations in the current fighting in the Negev are much greater than in any other previous engagement there, it was officially announced here today. The announcement added that the Egyptian resistance is much firmer than in previous battles.
The Israeli military authorities are faced with a major problem because of the very great number of Egyptian prisoners of war now in their hands, it was learned here today. The present camp accommodations are inadequate for housing all the prisoners.
An Israeli spokesman today denied reports of an alleged Israeli invasion of Trans jordan, stating that “we are not any nearer the Transjordan frontier than we were two or three weeks ago.”
An official announcement this morning revealed that a two-hour clash occurred last night between Israeli and Iraqi forces near Ramath Hakovesh, on the central front. Two Jews were killed and a number of Iraqis are believed to be casualties. The clash resulted from Israeli troops hurting down Area bandits who killed two settlers in neighboring colonies and kidnapped their wives.
Premier David Ben Gurion, addressing a reception in honor of foreign enlisted men in the Israeli Army yesterday, said that “signs are visible that peace may come soon.” He added that “we will welcome peace at any time, but as long as the enemy still shirks peace negotiations the highest alert is necessary.” He also pointed out that difficult taste face Israel on the domestic and foreign fronts. He thanked the Jews of the United States, Sc. Africa, Canada, France and Czechoslovakia who were particularly valuable in aiding the Israeli Air Force to achieve mastery of the skies.
ISRAEL GIVES EGYPT STERN WARNING AGAINST THREATENED USE OF GAS IN NEGEV
The Egyptian high command was last night sternly warned that it would “deeply regret” any use of gas against Jewish settlements. The warning was given by Col. Yigel Yadin, chief of operations of the Israeli Army, in reply to Egyptian charges that the Jews had used gas against Egyptian troops in the Faluja pocket and their threats to retaliate against Jewish settlements.
The Egyptian accusation was contained in a complaint to the United Nations Saturday, it was officially announced here. Brig. Gen. William Riley, U.N. chief of staff in Palestine, immediately communicated the charges to Israel and Col. Yadin forwarded a complete and firm denial to Riley that night. Today, an Israeli spokesman called on U.N. observers to investigate the “Faluja gas hoax.”
Col. Yadin’s letter said: “We can only assume that these charges were prompted by one of three reasons: either out of despair the Egyptians are preparing the ground for using gas; or, after their defeat in the field, they have perhaps invented the use of gas by us as a scapegoat; or else it is a trick of the Egyptian commander at Faluja, after the failure of a camel caravan to reach Faluja, invented to prompt the Egyptian high command to relieve the Faluja garrison.
“If the first assumption is correct it would impel us to take action that would make the Egyptian General Officer in Command regret the day he tried to fool the acting mediator, Gen. Riley or ourselves. None of our weapons use anything even resembling gas.”
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.
