The Battle of Nitzanim was a battle fought between the Israel Defense Forces and the Egyptian Army in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, on June 7, 1948 (29 Iyar, 5708 in the Hebrew calendar). It was the first major Egyptian victory of the war, and one of the few cases of Israeli surrender.The battle began on the night of June 6–7 with an artillery bombardment of Nitzanim, followed by an aerial bombardment and armored and infantry attacks.