'Iraq Suwaydan was a Palestinian Arab village located 27 km (17 mi) northeast of Gaza City. It was captured by Israeli forces in Operation Yoav against the defending Egyptian Army during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The village infrastructure, with the exception of the police station built by the British Mandate authorities, was destroyed.
View of Iraq Suwaydan village from Israeli machine gun position, November 1948
Iraq Suwaydan 1930 1:20,000
Iraq Suwaydan 1948 1:20,000
Iraq Suwaydan. 1948 aerial photograph from Palmach archives. Police Station top left. Signs of Negba battles to right.
Operation Yoav was an Israeli military operation carried out from 15–22 October 1948 in the Negev Desert, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Its goal was to drive a wedge between the Egyptian forces along the coast and the Beersheba–Hebron–Jerusalem road, and ultimately to conquer the whole Negev. Operation Yoav was headed by the Southern Front commander Yigal Allon. The operation was named after Yitzhak Dubno, codenamed "Yoav" by his commanders in the Palmach. Dubno, a senior Palmach officer, was charged with planning and leading the defense of the kibbutzim Negba and Yad Mordechai. Dubno was killed in an air raid on Kibbutz Negba shortly after Egyptian forces began their offensive on Israel's southern front.
Israeli soldiers capturing Beersheba
The Iraq Suwaydan bombardment, 9 November 1948.
Negev brigade
Villages and towns captured during Operation Yoav, October 1948.