The Suez Crisis (also known in Hebrew as Mivza Kadesh, the Kadesh Operation), was a military conflict between Israel, Britain and France, on one side, and Egypt on the other. In the background of this conflict was another one – Operation Musketeer, in which France and Britain sought to take over the Suez Canal, recently nationalized by Nasser. Historical discourse is still undecided as to whether Israel itself was actually interested in the conflict, or whether it was dragged into it by its commitments to France and Britain, on which it depended for military and economic aid. In any case, at the end of the War Israel attained significant accomplishments in securing its southern border.
The Suez Crisis resulted in 3,200 deaths, 177 on the Israeli side, and about 5,500 wounded. Around 6,000 fighters were taken hostage, among them a single Israeli soldier.