The capture of Jenin on the southern edge of the Esdraelon Plain, also blocked the main line of retreat to Damascus from the Judean Hills.
The troops entered the village of Araqa, west of Jenin, in pursuit of the Palestinians, who the military said killed an Israeli woman on Friday.
By 20 September these cavalry divisions reached the rear, completely outflanked and almost encircled the Ottoman Seventh and Eighth Armies during the Battle of Nazareth, Capture of Afulah and Beisan, Capture of Jenin and Battle of Samakh.
Witnesses said an Israeli helicopter hovered over the villages of Tubas and Tayasir, south of Jenin, through much of the day.
After securing the town, the 9th and 10th Light Horse Regiments were deployed across the main line of retreat from the Judean Hills, at the outlet of the Dothan Pass, about 1 mi south of Jenin, to wait for the expected retreating columns.
Gadish is near the predominantly Palestinian town of Jenin, a center of the Palestinian resistance and the site of heavy fighting earlier this year.
Waleed Deeb, president of the Arab American University in Jenin, said of the army's statement: "The least that they can do is to admit that it was a mistake.
For many residents of Jenin, their city of 45,000 has become an island, relying on itself rather than the Palestinian Authority.
Last fall, after Mr. Arafat complied with Israeli requests and ordered the arrest in the Jenin camp of Mahmoud Tawalbeh, the local leader of the militant Islamic Jihad organization, violent protests broke out.
He said in an interview with CNN that Israeli troops would be out of Jenin "in a matter of a couple of days".
