Six-Day War

The Six-Day War, or the 1967 Arab–Israeli war (5–10 June 1967), was fought between Israel and a coalition of six Arab states, primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, in the context of the Arab–Israeli conflict. In the war, Israel captured and occupied the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria.

Hostilities broke out amid continual armed border incidents as well as rising Pan-Arab Nationalism, which aimed to unite Arab nations around opposition to Israel.
 In April 1967, a border incident between Israel and Syria, led to an aerial engagement in which six Syrian jets were shot down. This led to false reports by the Soviet Union that Israel intended to launch a major ground attack upon Syria.


In mid May, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser mobilized 100,000 Egyptian troops to the border with Israel and ordered the immediate withdrawal of all UN peacekeepers form the region. Eight days later, Nassar announced that the Straits of Tiran, Israel’s only access to the Red Sea, would be closed to Israeli vessels. Israel had already stated that closure of the straits would be considered an act of war. On May 30, Egypt signed a defense pact with Jordan, a pact with Syria having been concluded the previous November. The following day, at Jordan's invitation, the Iraqi army began deploying troops and armored units in Jordan.

On June 1, Israel formed a National Unity Government by widening its cabinet, and on June 4 the decision was made to go to war. The war began on 5 June 1967 with Operation Focus, an Israeli surprise attack consisting of a series of airstrikes against Egyptian airfields and other facilities as the UNEF was leaving the zone. Israel caught Egyptian forces by surprise and destroyed nearly all of Egypt's air force, giving Israel air supremacy.

Simultaneously, the Israeli military launched a ground offensive into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip. Jordan joined the offensive later that morning, with an attack on West Jerusalem.

After some initial resistance, Nasser ordered an evacuation of the Sinai Peninsula; by the fourth day of the conflict, Israel had occupied the entire Sinai Peninsula. On the fifth day, Syria joined the war by shelling Israeli positions in the north.


Egypt and Jordan agreed to a ceasefire on 8 June, and Syria on 9 June, and it was signed with Israel on 11 June. The Six-Day War resulted in more than 15,000 Arab fatalities, and fewer than 1,000 Israeli. Alongside the combatant casualties were the deaths of 20 Israeli civilians killed in Arab forces air strikes on Jerusalem, 15 UN peacekeepers killed by Israeli strikes in the Sinai at the outset of the war, and 34 US personnel killed in the USS Liberty incident, in which Israeli air and naval forces mistakenly assaulted a United States Navy spy ship.

When hostilities ceased, Israel had occupied the Golan Heights from Syria, the West Bank including East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt. The displacement of civilian populations as a result of the Six-Day War had long-term consequences, as around 280,000 to 325,000 Palestinians and 100,000 Syrians fled or were expelled from the West Bank and the Golan Heights, respectively. Nasser resigned in shame after Israel's victory, but was reinstated after a series of protests across Egypt. In the aftermath of the conflict, Egypt closed the Suez Canal from 1967 to 1975.