Just over a month after Israel's first occupation of Gaza, Israeli military governors and Arab notables hold a ceremony commemorating the establishment of the local council December 20, 1956 in Deir el Balah in the Gaza Strip. In late October 1956, shortly before the British and French invasion of the Suez Canal Zone, Israeli troops seized the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip and used it as a springboard for its advance against the Egyptians in the Sinai Peninsula. On March 6, 1957 the United Nations Emergency Force replaced the Israeli troops, and Cairo regained control of the Gaza Strip. (Photo by GPO via Getty Images)