Today in 1970, the war of attrition ended.
The crushing defeat inflicted on Israel’s neighbors in the Six-Day War did not convince them to stop their struggle, but even encouraged them to continue it more forcefully: This is reflected in frequent exchanges of fire within the new borders and rapid rearmament. Egypt, led by Nasser, has decided to slowly increase the pace of the exchange of fire, and to apply pressure on Israel to withdraw from Sinai. In 1968, the Egyptians bombarded the Israeli border, and Israel conducted raids in response and built the Bar Lev line along the canal, with dozens of sheltered strongholds. In 1969, Egyptian bombardments, Israeli raids and air battles became a daily issue; and in early 1970, Soviet support for the Egyptian army expanded greatly, and Israel was required to make larger braking efforts. But in the end, Egypt failed to exhaust Israel, and found its own economy and society terribly exhausted – and so, in July, Nasser agreed to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire, and Israel agreed to it as well in early August. In total, some 1,000 Israelis were killed, of whom about 400 were on the Egyptian border; the Egyptians lost over 10 soldiers and a lot of equipment, and with the death of Nasser a month later his replacement, Sadat, began to seriously think about achieveing peace with Israel, either in negotiations or in war.
Photo Source: Wikipedia
