(now Ashkelon), Beersheba and Beit Hanoun. Some targets were bombed again during the following two nights. A battalion of the Yiftach Brigade mined the railroad between El-Arish and Rafah and various roads in the Gaza area, also driving a wedge into the road. Two battalions of the Givati Brigade drove south east of Iraq al-Manshiyya (now Kiryat Gath), thus cutting the road between al-Faluja and Bayt Jibrin. Beit Jibrin was captured by the 52 Battalion of Givati and the 8th Brigade on October 23. In the early morning hours of October 21, following two nights of air raids, the Negev Brigade and 8th Armored Brigade attacked Beersheba from the west. Another force joined them from the north. The Egyptian army garrison consisted of 500 soldiers with some light artillery. They put up some resistance for five hours before surrendering. The conquest of Beersheba was named Operation Moshe, after Moshe Albert, who fell defending the besieged Beit Eshel. While a truce was ordered for 15:00 hours on 22 October, action in the days immediately following the operation, and associated with it, continued. After the Egyptians retreated southward from Ashdod (October 28) and al-Majdal (November 6) to Gaza, the coastal strip down to Yad Mordechai was occupied by Israeli forces. On 9 November, the Iraq Suwaydan fortress was captured and renamed the Yoav Fortress in honor of the operation. On 29 October soldiers from the 8th Brigade carried out a massacre at al-Dawayima. Towards the end of the operation General Allon sought permission to launch an attack on the Hebron hills and into the Jericho valley. David Ben-Gurion refused, mainly due to fears that this would lead to British involvement. The United Nations Refugee Relief Project reported that the Gaza Strip's refugee population had jumped from 100,000 to 230,000 as a result of Operation Yoav. This figure does not include those who fled to the Hebron Hills. Captured Arab villages Participating brigades 8th Armored Brigade Givati Brigade Negev Brigade Oded Brigade Yiftach Brigade See also Israeli naval campaign in Operation Yoav List of battles and operations in the 1948 Palestine war Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel References External links The First Israeli-Arab War and its Refugees 1948–53 Lest We Forget - an article by Nizar Sakhanini Yoav 1948 in Israel 1948 in All-Palestine (Gaza) Yoav October 1948 events in Asia