 This British Empire victory , the first against the Ottoman Empire in the war , ensured the safety of the Suez Canal from ground attacks , and ended the Central Powers ' ambitions of disrupting traffic through the canal by gaining control of the strategically important northern approaches to the Suez Canal . The pursuit by the Anzac Mounted Division which ended at Bir el Abd on 12 August began the Sinai and Palestine Campaign . Thereafter , the Anzac Mounted Division supported by the Imperial Camel Brigade were on the offensive , pursuing the German and Ottoman army many miles across the Sinai Peninsula , reversing in a most <unk> manner the defeat suffered at Katia three months earlier . 
