The Morning Call · Allentown, Pennsylvania · 3 November 1956

CP-1956-006

Israeli Seizure of Gaza Equals Bitter World War II Battles

‘Now We Can Work Fields in Peace’

Serge Fliegers, International News Service, inside the Gaza Strip

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Transcribed from the clipping

“INSIDE THE GAZA STRIP, Nov. 2 (INS)—I rode into the battle of Gaza in an ancient New York City taxi. I watched Israeli soldiers wrest the town of Gaza and the whole refugee-jammed Gaza Strip from Egyptian troops and fadayeen suicide commandos.

The whole 135-square mile area fell to the Israelis after a furious artillery and air bombardment and a lightning blitzkrieg sweep from south to north.

Positions Softened Up. Throughout the night and early morning, I waited as the Israeli artillery and bombers softened up the Egyptian positions… rounded up and marched—hands [up]… and the local population reportedly stayed in the Gaza Strip when the Israelis launched their drive against Egypt last Monday.

Thus, in a few fateful hours, Israel increased its population by 20 per cent and presented itself with a major problem. The actual battle for Gaza was too swift to allow a mass exodus from the strip. The first Israeli troops crossed into the strip at 6 a.m. (11 p.m. EST Thursday) and the town was in Israeli hands before noon.

The fighting equalled in bitterness anything seen in World War II. The scene might have been a small French or Italian town during the war, except for the flowing white costumes of the Arabs. The victory at Gaza has real importance for the Israelis.

Murderous Raids. As we returned from the city across the smoking fields, teenaged girls and boys with guns slung over their shoulders were coming into the neighboring Arab settlements. The latter had for four years been subjected to murderous raids by the Gaza-based fedayeen.

Sixteen-year-old Diana, a girl from Nahal Oz, gazed in wonderment at the adobe houses, now spattered with bullet holes. ‘So this is where they came from at night,’ she said. ‘Now the nightmare is ended. We can work our fields in peace.’”

Context added by this archive

Written from inside the advance, and it says plainly what happened to the people: they stayed, because the battle was too fast for them to leave. The correspondent does the arithmetic on the spot — Israel 20% larger in a few hours, and “a major problem.” The page’s kicker is a quotation from an Israeli teenager.

A correction

masthead reads Morning Call, Allentown PA, Nov 3 1956; slide caption pairing swapped with Birmingham Post 1967

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