Israel knew its Arab neighbors were getting ready to launch a pan-Arab attack so on June 5, 1967, Israel launched a surprise preemptive strike. Their air force largely destroyed the Arabs’ most formidable weapon by catching the Egyptian air force on the ground. That same day, the Israeli air force also attacked the air forces of Jordan, Syria, and Iraq, and by the end of the day Israel had decisively won air superiority. Also on June 5, Israel’s ground forces moved against and into Egypt’s Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula.
By June 8, the Egyptian forces were defeated, and Israel held the Gaza Strip and the Sinai to the Suez Canal. Similar ground attacks with tanks and infantry took place on the West Bank, the Old City of East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. “On June 11, a U.N.-brokered cease-fire took effect throughout the three combat zones, and the Six-Day War was at an end. Israel had more than doubled its size in the six days of fighting.”
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