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Suez Crisis: Quick Facts

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News •

IDF, defense ministry share files of Ben-Gurion to mark Suez Crisis anniversary • Nov. 8, 2026, 12:55 AM ET (Jerusalem Post)

Facts

Date July 26, 1956 - March 1957
Participants Egypt • France • Israel • United Kingdom

Did You Know?

  • Gamal Abdel Nassers nationalization of the Suez Canal was supported by weapons and money from the Soviet Union.
  • Egypt and Israel had a history of animosity that helped fuel this conflict.
  • The Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev declared his intention to fire nuclear weapons at western Europe if the French, British, and Israeli troops were not removed from the Suez Canal.

Photos

Vertical map of the Suez Canal in Egypt, showing its route from Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea in the north to Suez on the Gulf of Suez in the south. The map highlights the existing canal, the new canal channel as of August 2015, major lakes such as Lake Timsah and the Great Bitter Lake, and nearby cities and infrastructure including railroads and drainage canals, with the Sinai Peninsula to the east. An inset locates the canal within Egypt.
British soldiers stand in front of a large crowd of civilians waiting for food distribution in the Arab quarter of Port Said, Egypt, with damaged buildings and rubble in the background.
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Related Topics and References

Topics
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Key People

Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
prime minister of Israel
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
president of Egypt
David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
prime minister of Israel
Dag Hammarskjold, wearing a blue suit and tie, sits at a desk with a world map on the wall behind him.
Dag Hammarskjöld
Swedish statesman and secretary-general of the United Nations
Moshe Dayan.
Moshe Dayan
Israeli soldier and statesman
Ralph Bunche, 1951.
Ralph Bunche
American diplomat
Eden, photograph by Yousuf Karsh
Anthony Eden
prime minister of United Kingdom
Guy Mollet, 1961.
Guy Mollet
premier of France
Selwyn Lloyd.
Selwyn Lloyd
British statesman
default image
André Beaufre
French general
Lester B. Pearson
Lester B. Pearson
prime minister of Canada
default image
David Elazar
Israeli military commander