Battle of Magdhaba

Battle context

The Battle of Magdhaba on 23 December 1916 was a victory for the Egyptian Expeditionary Force during the Defence of Egypt phase of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. The Anzac Mounted Division defeated an entrenched Ottoman garrison at a position 18–25 miles inland from the Mediterranean coast, eliminating a force of roughly 2,000 defenders and inflicting over 1,200 casualties or captures. The action also secured El Arish, whose Ottoman garrison had already withdrawn, consolidating EEF control over a strategically significant coastal town and its surrounding desert approaches. Together these gains extended British-led control eastward across the Sinai, reducing the Ottoman capacity to threaten Egypt from the peninsula and setting conditions for subsequent operations toward Palestine.