The Yiftach Brigade (also known as the Yiftah Brigade, the 11th Brigade in the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

) was an Israeli

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

brigade. It included two

Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Companies") was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine. The Palmach ...

battalions (the 1st and 7th), and later also the 2nd, which was transferred from the

Negev Brigade The 12th Negev Brigade ( he, חטיבת הנגב, ''Hativat HaNegev'') is an Israeli reserve infantry brigade under the Sinai Division, that originally served in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. History Founding and organization The brigade was f ...

. The Palmach memorial website records 274 of its members being killed whilst in the Yiftach Brigade. File:Moshe Kelman ii.jpg,

Moshe Kelman Moshe Kelman (2 September 1923 – 19 December 1980) was an Israeli military officer. Early life Kelman was born in Mazkeret Batya and was raised in Ness Ziona, Rehovot, and Ramat HaSharon. He joined the Haganah at age 15. In 1940 he moved to Ei ...

, commander during Operation Yiftach File:Mula Cohen.jpg, Mula Cohen, commander during Operation Danny File:Gideon Eilat.jpg, Gideon Eilat commander during Operation Yoav

Military operations

The Yiftach Brigade participated in the following Israeli military operations: *

Operation Yiftach Operation Yiftach ( he, מבצע יפתח, ''Mivtza Yiftah'') was a Palmach offensive carried out between 28 April and 23 May 1948. The objectives were to capture Safed and to secure the eastern Galilee before the British Mandate ended on 14 May ...

* Operation Yoram *

Operation Danny Operation Danny ( he, מבצע דני, ''Mivtza Dani'') was an Israeli military offensive launched at the end of the first truce of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The objectives were to capture territory east of Tel Aviv and then to push inland and ...

Operation Yoav Operation Yoav (also called ''Operation Ten Plagues'' or ''Operation Yo'av'') 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 th ...

* Metzudat Koach

Memorial

The memorial for the fallen soldiers of the Yiftach Brigade is situated in the northern Negev north of

Rahat Rahat ( ar, رهط, he, רַהַט) is a predominantly Bedouin city in the Southern District of Israel. In it had a population of . As such, it is the largest Bedouin city in the world, and the only one in Israel to have city status. Rahat i ...

, near

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

Beit Kama and Kama Junction on Road 40.

Military operations

Memorial

See also