page_title: Battle of Beersheba (1948)
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Beersheba (1948) / Battle
caption_attribution_description: Israeli soldiers capturing Beersheba, 1948
context_page_description: The Battle of Beersheba, codenamed Operation Moses, was an Israeli offensive on Beersheba on October 21, 1948. It was part of Operation Yoav and was conducted at the end of the operation. It was made possible following the opening of a land corridor from the Negev desert to the rest of Israel in the Battles of the Separation Corridor. The capture had both military and political significance. It helped sever the supply route of the Egyptian expeditionary force's eastern wing, and strengthened Israel's claim to the Negev desert.
  The attack started at 04:00 on October 21, and involved the Negev Brigade and the 89th Battalion of the 8th Brigade. It ended at 09:15, when the Egyptians surrendered the town's police station.
context_section_description: On the night of October 20–21, the Israeli force made its way from Mishmar HaNegev. It consisted of the 7th and 9th battalions of the Negev Brigade and the 89th Battalion of the 8th Brigade. It met with Egyptian artillery fire at Khirbet Abu 'Aisha, but continued eastward to the gathering point on Hill 315.2. An artillery force simultaneously left Hatzerim, west of Beersheba, and positioned itself mainly on Hill 279.9. The attack was meant to begin at midnight, but both forces were late. At 04:00, the main force started moving southward to Beersheba, and the artillery began its barrage. A small machine gun contingent from the artillery force occupied Hill 283, just northwest of the train station, to pin down the Egyptian forces there.
  The new neighborhood in the northeast of Beersheba was then taken without a fight. The Israeli forces then proceeded to capture the cemetery and the entire northeastern part of the town. They stopped at a line opposite the town's police station, mosque and railway station to the west, while the Gaza–Beersheba road separated them from the southern portion of the town. An armored force was sent south to block the road to Bir 'Asluj.
  When the Israelis realized that the second wave that was meant to complete the capture of Beersheba was late to arrive, they changed the attack plan and decided to surround the railway station. The assault, in the strength of one company, failed after four half-tracks were damaged by mines. The forces regrouped in the new neighborhood. At that point, about 60 Israeli soldiers were left in the city center, compared to an estimated 500 Egyptian troops fortified in the railway station. The Israeli reinforcements meanwhile reached the town and entered a battle with the Egyptians, who counterattacked.
  At this point, the Egyptians began to fall into disarray, as some retreated southwards. The rest of the forces concentrated in the town's police station. The Israelis fired their antitank weapons at the station, with other contingents capturing the rest of Beersheba. The Egyptian soldiers at the police station eventually surrendered. At 09:15, the Israeli forces reported that the town was under their control. At 09:45 they regrouped and began to fan out, setting up fortifications in various positions around Beersheba.
caption: Israeli forces in Beersheba
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