Their reasoning was sound: The Israelis did not control even their own side of the canal, so they could not possibly reinforce the first wave of a few hundred men with a handful of tanks. Rather than pulling their units back across the canal to chase the raiding Israelis, the Egyptian commanders believed that their forces could capture all of them by converging toward one another, thus closing the two-mile gap that Sharon had exploited.
埃及最高统帅部相信沙龙的渡河不过是小股部队的连夜突袭行动。他们的理由似乎也合情合理：以色列不可能组织起超过几百人、数辆坦克的首波突袭，因为他们甚至控制不了运河的己方一侧。埃及统帅部认为与其撤回运河对岸追击偷袭的以色列人，还不如让埃军互相靠拢、填补被沙龙所用的两英里缺口就能全数俘获以军。