ORDER OF BATTLE // March 21, 1968
Battle of Karameh
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 16,000 estimated
Israel
15,000
Medium-confidence figure
Jordan
1,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Battle of Karameh was a 15-hour engagement between Israeli forces and the combined Jordanian and PLO forces at the border town of Karameh. Planned as one of two concurrent Israeli raids — the other targeting the village of Ghor es-Safi south of the Dead Sea — the operation brought Israeli forces numbering 15,000 against approximately 1,000 Jordanian defenders alongside PLO fighters. Israeli casualties of 161 and Jordanian casualties of 100–250 reflected the intensity of the fighting relative to the scale of the operation. Within the War of Attrition, Karameh stood as a significant test of PLO and Jordanian resolve against Israeli cross-border operations, and the willingness of both to contest a major Israeli incursion directly on Jordanian soil shaped the subsequent trajectory of Palestinian resistance and Jordanian-Israeli border tensions.
‹ Full battle dossierSources (16)
Monograph
A Country of Words: A Palestinian Journey from the Refugee Camp to the Front Page
→ Open sourceMonograph
Britain and the Conflict in the Middle East, 1964–1967: The Coming of the Six-Day War
→ Open sourceMonograph
Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, The: A Political, Social, and Military History: A Political, Social, and Military History
→ Open sourceMonograph
Fortress Israel: The Inside Story of the Military Elite Who Run the Country—and Why They Can't Make Peace
→ Open sourceMonograph