Issued 15th May 1948 on the occasion of the arrival of Egyptian Troops at Gaza.

Photogravure by the Survey Department, Cairo.  Usage valid until 15 October 1948.

On the evening of 13th May 1948, the first Egyptian army battalion crossed Fardan Bridge at the Suez Canal, bound for Palestine. They entered Palestine from three main points: the coastal road from Khan Younis to Ntsanim colony in northern Gaza; from Al-Awja to Bethlehem, then Hebron; and from the northern Negev axis widely extending from Hebron to Fallujah and Iraqi Mansheya and Ashkelon on the Mediterranean coast.

Those axes were not interconnected, so the middle roads were the most dangerous since, if the enemy took over those roads, it meant separating the different divisions of the battalion and converting each axis to the semi-blockaded pocket. This was what actually happened when the forces were besieged in Fallujah.

On 14th May 1948, military operations started and the Egyptian army’s attack was launched on Jewish settlements in Gaza. Its aircraft raided Tel Aviv, hitting power plants and the military airport. On 15th May, the Egyptian vanguard arrived in Gaza City. The Egyptian Army performed very well at the beginning of the war.