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Six Day War (1967)

Also known as the 1967 War, and in Arabic as the Naksa (Setback), a war fought between Israel and three Arab countries - Egypt, Syria and Jordan - on 5-11 June 1967. The war began with Operation Moked, a series of preemptive Israeli airstrikes which effectively incapacitated the Egyptian and Syrian Air Forces. During the ground assault that followed, Israeli forces overran the Golan Heights, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. Israeli territorial gains were confirmed in the ceasefire agreements concluding the war. Following the war, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 242, which stressed “the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war” and required an Israeli withdrawal, the extent of which remains under dispute. Israel formally annexed East Jerusalem in late 1967 and the Golan Heights in 1981, while the Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt following the 1979 peace treaty between the countries. The Gaza Strip and the West Bank remain under Israeli control and have come to be known as the Palestinian Territories. Israel lost around 800 soldiers during the war, while Arab casualties numbered some 15,000–20,000 soldiers.