Forces from the Negev and 8th brigades entered the Sinai on December 28 and at night captured Umm Katef and Abu Ageila, about 25km inside Egyptian territory.

Still, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion ordered the IDF to turn back, ending military engagements in the war.

[1] While the Israelis made significant tactical and strategic gains in Operation Yoav, the political situation changed little and Egypt was still dragging its feet on proposed armistice talks.

[3] The main thrust of Operation Horev was in the south, and on December 25–27, Israeli forces captured the Beersheba–'Auja road, including Bir 'Asluj.

[2] The Southern Command decided to exploit this success in order to complete the rest of Operation Horev, namely, to surround and eventually expel all Egyptian forces from Palestine.

[7] While the battles on the Beersheba–'Auja road were raging, the IDF initiated Operation Beginning (Hebrew: מִבְצָע הַתְחָלָה, Mivtza Hatḥala) with the aim of cutting off supply to the Egyptian forces in Gaza by destroying sections of the coastal railway.

[7][8] At this time, the IDF Chief of Operations Yigael Yadin sent out an order to Yigal Allon not to capture Abu Ageila until the latter came to see him.

[9] After the capture of Abu Ageila, the bulk of the Israeli task force continued north, while units from the 7th Battalion remained to dig in.

[8] On the evening of December 29, Yigal Allon visited Nahum Sarig and the Negev Brigade staff at Bir Lahfan and ordered the forces to organize for the capture of al-Arish at midnight.

[13] He then flew to Tel Aviv to meet Yadin, who was sick at home, and tried to persuade him to authorize his plan to capture al-Arish and encircle the Egyptians in the Gaza corridor.

While by the time of Yadin and Ben-Gurion's refusal, there had been almost no international pressure to stop the advance into the Sinai,[14] partly because it had not been clear whether the Sinai had indeed been invaded, on December 30 both the British and American government called for Israel's withdrawal to the international boundary, and the British allowed the Egyptians to use their airbases in Egypt for refueling.

However, by this time the Egyptian government announced its agreement to negotiate armistice with the Israelis, which caused Ben-Gurion to order the troops' withdrawal yet again, effectively ending combat in the war.