UNEF Series I 88 (Gaza 1957)

History

UNEF I was the United Nations' first armed peacekeeping force, raised in November 1956 after the Suez crisis to supervise the withdrawal of British, French and Israeli forces from Egypt and then to hold the Egypt–Israel armistice line and the Gaza Strip. Its contingents — Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Indian, Brazilian, Colombian, Canadian and others — arrived with whatever light vehicles could be found or bought, and Land Rover Series Is served alongside Willys MBs and M38s, all hastily painted white with UNEF markings.

The photograph on cj3b.info shows the convoy halted on the road into the Gaza Strip in April 1957 under UN and Swedish flags: jeeps, station wagons and several Series I 88s, one with UNEF lettered on its tailgate above the plate. The registry model is the Series I 88 soft top in that white scheme with a khaki tilt and the tailgate lettering; the plate number is a placeholder read from the photograph's low-resolution crop and should not be taken as confirmed.

Imagery

Registry record

Manufacturer

Rover Company (Series I 88, Solihull)

Manufactured

Series I 86/88; photographed April 1957

Modifier / coachbuilder

UNEF (white repaint)

Engine type

Rover 2.0 L petrol

Production run

unknown

Country of origin

United Kingdom

Operated in

Egypt, United Nations

Status

historic

Catalogue data

Record kind

Named model

Model line

Series I

Wheels

4

Nominal wheelbase

88″

Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.

Sources & citations

Researched sources

• Jeeps of the UNEF in the Sinai and Gaza ↗ — cj3b.info (accessed 2026-09-12)

Catalogue references

• https://cj3b.info/Military/SinaiUNEF.html https://cj3b.info/Military/SinaiUNEF.html ↗