{{pp|small=yes}} {{Short description|1956 attack on Israeli civilians by Palestinian Arab fedayeen}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox terrorist attack | title = Negev desert road ambush | partof = Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency | map = <div style="width:250px; float:none; clear:none;"><div style="position:relative; padding:0; width:250px;">250px <br /><div style="position: absolute; z-index: 2; top: 78.2%; left: 86.8%; height: 0; width: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"><div style="position: relative; text-align: center; left: -3px; top: -3px; width: 6px; font-size: 6px;">7px</div><div style="position: font-size:90%; line-height: 110%; z-index:90; position: relative; top: -1.5em; width: 6em; right: 6.5em; text-align: center;"><span style="padding: 1px;">'''The attack site'''</span></div></div></div></div> | native_name = פיגוע הירי בכביש סדום-באר שבע | caption = | location = Highway 25, Southern Israel | target = | date = {{start date and age|1956|10|4|df=yes}} | native_name_lang = heb | time-begin = | time-end = | timezone = | type = Ambush, mass shooting | weapon = Machine gun | fatalities = 5 Israeli civilians | injuries = 1 Israeli civilian | perps = Palestinian Fedayeen squad | numparts = 10 }} {{Campaignbox Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency}} The '''Negev desert road ambush''' was a terrorist attack which occurred on Thursday, 4 October 1956 at Highway 25, Israel when a squad of 10 armed Palestinian fedayeen fired at two civilian vehicles. As a result, 5 Israeli civilians were killed and 1 was injured.
==The attack== During the afternoon of 4 October 1956, a squad of 10 armed Palestinian Fedayeen militants infiltrated Israel from Jordan. In broad daylight, the militants swooped down on two jeeps on the Sodom–Beer Sheva road (Highway 25), which were traveling on the road section which goes through the southern part of the Dead Sea, {{convert|7|mi}} west of the Jordanian border with Israel. The vehicles were carrying employees of the Solel Boneh company.
The militants began by attacking the first vehicle with machine gun fire, killing all four of the passengers in the car. Afterwards the militants attacked the second vehicle. One of the passengers in the second car jumped out in an attempt to escape the militants and save his life. The militants killed him as well with machine-gun fire.
Only one person, an American engineer who was driving the second car, managed to escape the incident.
===Fatalities=== * Gabriel Benjamin Dahan (born 1931)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=37116&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3|title=אתר לזכר האזרחים חללי פעולות האיבה<!-- Bot generated title -->|access-date=25 March 2011|archive-date=21 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321134136/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=37116&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3|url-status=dead}}</ref> * Ephraim Waldman (born 1907)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=37117&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3|title=אתר לזכר האזרחים חללי פעולות האיבה<!-- Bot generated title -->|access-date=25 March 2011|archive-date=21 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321134150/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=37117&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3|url-status=dead}}</ref> * Arie Lahav (born 1921)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=37114&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3|title=אתר לזכר האזרחים חללי פעולות האיבה<!-- Bot generated title -->|access-date=25 March 2011|archive-date=21 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321134156/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=37114&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3|url-status=dead}}</ref> * Jacob Lustig (born 1916)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=37115&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3|title=אתר לזכר האזרחים חללי פעולות האיבה<!-- Bot generated title -->|access-date=25 March 2011|archive-date=21 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321134205/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=37115&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Aftermath == The squad members were arrested on their return to Jordan by a Jordanian police force. Shortly thereafter, King Hussein of Jordan ordered the release of the assailants.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman blamed the killings on a "well trained and organized group from Jordan."<ref name="Glasgow">{{cite news |title=Israel Refuses to Call Observers – Negev Desert Ambush |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=22pAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rpsMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4324,4091347 |access-date=30 July 2022 |work=The Glasgow Herald |via=Google News Archive Search (news.google.com) |agency=Associated Press |date=6 October 1956 |df=dmy-all |location=Jerusalem |pages=7}}</ref> He also stated that the incident "shows a continuation of Jordan's policy of aggression and border harassment".<ref name="Sarasota">{{cite news |title=Israel Accuses Jordan of New Desert Ambush |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SAIdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xYoEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5252,529032 |access-date=30 July 2022 |work=Sarasota Journal |via=Google News Archive Search (news.google.com) |agency=AP |date=5 October 1956 |df=dmy-all |location=Jerusalem |page=6}}</ref>
=== Operation Samaria === As a result, Israel decided to retaliate in response to Negev desert road ambush and to an 4 October attack in which infiltrators from Jordan killed two Israeli laborers in an orchard near Even Yehuda and cut off their ears. On 10 October, the Israeli military conducted a counterattack codenamed '''Operation Samaria''' in which the IDF attacked the Qalqilya police station at the Tegart fort. After a fierce battle the fort was blown up. 18 IDF soldiers died in the operation and 68 were injured. About 88 Jordanians were killed and 15 were wounded.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shlaim |first=Avi |title=Lion of Jordan: The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GaoDyfY644QC&q=Lion+of+Jordan+88+Jordanians+were+killed&pg=PT169 |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2007 |isbn=9780141017280}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist|2}}
== External links== * [https://archive.today/20130124190837/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oB8aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cCUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5833,1917657 Israel Reports Five Slayings. Arabs Are Accused] - published on Milwaukee Journal on 5 October 1956{{Full citation needed|date=July 2022}}
{{Terrorist attacks against Israelis in the 1950s}} {{Palestinian militancy attacks in the 1950s}}
Category:Terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians before 1967 Category:1956 murders in Israel Category:Terrorist incidents attributed to Palestinian militant groups Category:Massacres in 1956 Category:Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency Category:October 1956 in Asia Category:Terrorist incidents in Israel in 1956 Category:20th-century mass murders in Israel Category:Ambushes of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict Category:1956 mass shootings in Asia Category:Mass shootings in Israel Category:Massacres in Israel Category:1956 road incidents Category:Road incidents in Israel Category:Nationalist terrorist incidents in the 1950s