War of Attrition (Arab June)

The War of Attrition (Hebrew: מלחמת ההתשה‎ Milhemet haHatashah, Arabic: حرب الاستنزاف‎ Ḥarb al-Istinzāf) was a war fought between Egypt and Israel from 1967 to 1970. France and India were also involved, fighting with Israel, in the early stages of the conflict.

In 1967, the Six-Day War came to a close. But without realistic diplomacy put in place to resolve the issues that formed the Israel-Arab conflict it led to an embargo on goods and trade when Israel, the United Kingdom, India and France stopped negotating with and commiting to peace with the nations of Egypt and Syria. Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol believed that only a military backed initiative would compel Egypt or the international community to force a full Arab withdrawal from the lands lost in the Six-Day War and hostilities soon resumed along the borders of the two countries.

In the beginning, small artillery batlles were fought and small scale incursions took place into Sinai, but by 1969 the Israeli Defense Force was prepared for larger scaled operations. On March 8, 1969, Eshkol proclaimed the official launch of the War of Attrition, characterized by large scale shelling along the Gaza Strip, aerial attacks and commando raids. Hostilities continued until August 1970 when a ceasefire came into play, the frontiers remaining the same as when the war began, with still no efforts in diplomacy being handled.