The cease-fire agreement was signed by Israel and Egypt on October 24, 1973, and one day later with Syria
The Yom-Kippur War began on October 6, 1973 when the combined armies of Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in the Suez Canal area and the Golan Heights. On October 22, the Security Council adopted Resolution 338 calling for “all parties to the present fighting to cease all firing and terminate all military activity immediately.”
After a few days of hard fighting in which Egypt established itself on the eastern side of the Suez Canal and the Syrians captured most of the Golan Heights, the attack was halted and a counter-attack by IDF forces succeeded in pushing back some of the Egyptian forces, crossing the Canal and reaching within 101 kilometers of Cairo. On the Golan Heights, the Syrian forces were repulsed completely and IDF forces captured an enclave in the northern Heights deep in Syrian territory, as well as recapturing Mount Hermon.
A cease-fire agreement was signed by Israel and Egypt on October 24, 1973. A separation-of-forces agreement was signed on January 18, 1974 in which the sides agreed to observe the cease-fire, made arrangements for the reduction of forces and established a UN emergency force in the demilitarized zone. Israeli forces withdrew to a distance of 20 kilometers east of the Suez Canal, and the Egyptian army withdrew most of its forces to the west of the Canal.
A disengagement agreement with Syria was signed in Geneva on May 31, 1974, and included, inter alia, the establishment of UN observers in the demilitarized zone, arrangements for prisoner exchange, and IDF evacuation of the territory it took in the Yom-Kippur War as well as the city of Kuneitra, which was captured in the Six-Day War.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 338
October 22, 1973
The Security Council
- Calls upon all parties to the present fighting to cease all firing and terminate all military activity immediately, no later than 12 hours after the moment of the adoption of this decision, in the positions they now occupy;
- Calls upon the parties concerned to start immediately after the ceasefire the implementation of Security Council resolution 242 (1967) in all of its parts;
- Decides that, immediately and concurrently with the ceasefire, negotiations start between the parties concerned under appropriate auspices aimed at establishing a just and durable peace in the Middle East
