Battle of Hill 86 The Battle of Hill 86 was a military engagement between the Israel Defense Forces and the Egyptian Army as part of Operation " Horev " . It was fought on December 22 – 23 , 1948 , and was the first battle of the operation . The Israelis initiated the battle , as well as a concurrent raid on the Arab village of ' Abasan and aerial and naval shelling of the coastal strip , with the hope of deceiving the Egyptians into thinking that the coming operation would be aimed at isolating the Egyptian forces in Gaza . The 13th Battalion of the Golani Brigade captured the hill on the night of December 22 – 23 , but weather conditions prevented reinforcements from coming forward with essential supplies . The Egyptians counterattacked in the morning ; the Israelis retreated after suffering over 40 casualties . Background . The third and final stage of the 1948 Arab – Israeli War started on October 15 , 1948 , when Israel launched Operation " Yoav " on the southern front . This was part of the backdrop of Folke Bernadotte ' s second plan for the partition of Palestine , which called for the entire Negev desert to be part of the Arab state , contrary to the 1947 partition plan . While the Israelis made significant tactical and strategic gains in Operation " Yoav " , the political situation changed little — Egypt was dragging its feet on proposed armistice talks , and the Israeli government feared that the Bernadotte plan was still relevant internationally . Operation " Horev " was therefore launched in the south with the final aim of expelling all Egyptian forces from Israel . The main thrust of the operation was planned to be in the south and east of the southern front , with the initial aim of cutting - off the eastern wing of the Egyptian army from the bulk of its forces in Palestine . To make the task easier , the Israeli command decided to divert the Egyptians ' attention by staging an assault against their main troop concentration in what today is the Gaza Strip . Hill 86 , strategically located east of the coastal road and coastal railway , was chosen as the target . Raid on ' Abasan . Before the march on Hill 86 , itself a diversionary attack , the Israelis made other diversions to ease the capture of the hill , in the form of heavy shelling of the coastal strip by their 75 mm guns and a raid on the Arab village of ' Abasan , located about southeast of Khan Younis . ' Abasan served as the staging area for the Egyptian forces in the battles of Operation " Assaf " . The Israeli force consisted of several armored vehicles and armored personnel carrier s with infantry . They left at 02 : 00 on December 23 and quickly captured the village . However , the Egyptians withdrew to an antitank position just west . The Israelis had not known about this position and at least two of their vehicles were put out of commission as they approached . The Israeli commander of the raid was killed , the remainder retreated under a smoke screen . Battle . In the night of December 22 – 23 , the Golani Brigade ' s 13th Battalion left its base in the nearby locality of Shu ' ut and arrived at Hill 112 . They left heavy weapons such as 3 " mortars and antitank guns on the hill and continued northwest toward Hill 86 . The Israelis were subjected to artillery fire , which wounded several soldiers , although it is not clear whether they were discovered or the guns were fired randomly . Disoriented , the unit had trouble finding their destination , but nevertheless managed to completely surprise the Egyptians when they found it , capturing the position . Meanwhile , the support unit which possessed the heavy guns set out to reinforce the infantry . It met with logistical problems at Wadi Salka , which was full of water at this time of the year , and was surrounded by dirt and quicksand . In addition , Egyptian artillery bombarded the area . The reinforcements were forced to leave much of their matériel behind and allocate a contingent to bring it back to base . The Egyptians returned fire from Dribat ash - Sheikh Hamuda only to the south . An Egyptian convoy moving from north to south was intercepted by the Israelis and its weapons were used in the subsequent defense of the position . At 06 : 00 on December 23 , they started their main counterattack , which consisted of about twenty tanks , four armored vehicles with mounted flamethrower s and two infantry companies . The attack came from the north , west and south , but was beaten back by the Israelis , who , lacking proper antitank weapons , employed the four PIAT s ( Projector , Infantry , Anti - tank ) , in their possession . The Egyptian commander of the 10th Infantry Brigade Group , Brigadier General Muhammad Naguib , who would later become the president of Egypt , was seriously injured in the chest and pronounced dead , but managed to recover . Until noon , the Egyptian infantry stayed back at a distance of about or more from the hill and only the armored vehicles made direct assaults . As the infantry began to advance , the situation of the Israeli battalion became dire ; it was almost out of ammunition , most of the medics and PIAT operators had been killed or wounded , the communication devices did not work and there was no artillery support . The position held on however , but after the rain that had been going on stopped , the Egyptian mounted flamethrowers entered the battle . This was the first time they had employed such a weapon . One of them was hit by friendly fire , but nevertheless they managed to inflict significant damage on the Israelis . After the destruction of the armored vehicle , the Egyptians retreated to reorganize and the remaining Israeli forces staged a final counterattack with one remaining PIAT round . However , during the attack , they discovered that the Egyptians had a significant operational reserve of armored vehicles that would be impossible to destroy . The 13th Battalion began to retreat , without organization or order , losing many lives in the process . The Israeli officer who served as deputy commander of the 13th Battalion was killed in action and left in the field . Twelve other Israelis were killed , 35 were wounded and a few were captured . Aftermath . Despite the heavy losses and failure suffered by the Israeli forces , the strategic goal of the operation was met - the Egyptians focused their attention on the Gaza corridor , thinking that the Israelis intended to cut off their divisional headquarters there . When the Egyptians searched the body of the dead Israeli commander , they found documents pertaining to the attack , but which did not discuss it in a broader context , and this reinforced their belief that the aim was to disconnect the Gaza forces . An Egyptian officer wrote : In Operation " Horev " , the Israelis went on to capture Bir ' Asluj and Auja al - Hafir , cutting off the eastern wing of the Egyptian expeditionary force , before venturing into the Sinai Peninsula , taking a number of key positions there .