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Licensed local guides bring the 1967 Six-Day War history to life at Ammunition Hill and connect it to the broader Jerusalem story — from the Old City and Western Wall to the sites of the battles that led to reunification. Browse English-language tours from vetted Jerusalem specialists.
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Ammunition Hill — Givat HaTachmoshet in Hebrew — is the preserved battlefield of one of the most intense single engagements of the 1967 Six-Day War. On the night of June 5–6, 1967, 218 Israeli paratroopers fought approximately 150 Jordanian Arab Legion defenders through the concrete underground trench complex for control of the northern route into East Jerusalem. The battle lasted four hours. Thirty-six Israelis and an estimated 182 Jordanians were killed.
The entire trench system has been preserved exactly as it was left after the battle. Visitors can walk through the same bunkers, communications trenches, machine-gun positions and command post that were fought over that night — one of the few battlefield sites anywhere in the world where visitors stand in the ground-level geography of the fight itself. Entry is free.
The hill was a fortified Jordanian military compound guarding the northern corridor between the Mount Scopus enclave (a demilitarised UN-supervised zone since 1948) and the rest of east Jerusalem. It sat directly on the approach road to the Ambassador Hotel district and the northern approaches to the Old City. While Israel’s senior commanders hoped the Six-Day War might be fought only on the Egyptian front, Jordan’s opening artillery bombardment of west Jerusalem on June 5 brought the Jerusalem front into the war.
Capturing Ammunition Hill was assigned to the 66th Battalion of the 55th Airborne Brigade — paratroopers, many of them reservists, who had been called up only days earlier.
The assault began shortly after midnight. The paratroopers advanced in company formation through a shallow wadi and breached the perimeter fence. What followed was a sustained close-quarters battle through the interconnected trenches — a three-dimensional underground maze of concrete passages that the Jordanians had fortified over nineteen years.
Jordanian bunker positions provided overlapping fields of fire. Israeli company commanders made real-time decisions that are still studied in military training: when to advance, when to consolidate, how to clear trenches with grenades and small-arms fire against an entrenched defender. The IDF’s official account identifies 36 positions in the trench system that had to be taken individually. The battle continued until dawn.
By early morning on June 6, the hill was under Israeli control. The road north of the Old City walls was open. Later that morning, paratroopers from the same brigade reached the Lions’ Gate and entered the Old City.
The paratroopers’ commander, Lieutenant Colonel Yossi Yoffe, radioed at 10am on June 7: “The Temple Mount is in our hands.” The Western Wall, unreachable to Jews since 1948, was accessible again within hours of Ammunition Hill’s capture.
The original concrete trenches are the heart of the site. Eleven sections are open to visitors:
Audio guides (available in English, Hebrew, Russian) walk visitors through the battle chronologically, explaining what happened at each position. They are the most valuable way to make sense of the trench layout.
The indoor museum in the main building documents the battle in detail and places it in the context of the 1967 war and Israeli paratrooper history. Exhibits include:
The museum’s treatment of the battle acknowledges that the Jordanian soldiers who died were professional soldiers defending their assigned position. The framing is military-historical rather than triumphalist.
The outdoor memorial park surrounds the trench complex. Individual plaques name all 36 Israeli paratroopers killed in the battle. A separate Jordanian soldier memorial acknowledges the defenders. The panoramic view northward from the hill — over the French Hill neighbourhood, the Hebrew University campus on Mount Scopus, and the northern Jerusalem ridge — makes clear why this position mattered.
Address: Eshkol Boulevard, Ramat Eshkol neighbourhood, Jerusalem (Google Maps: Ammunition Hill / Givat HaTachmoshet)
Opening hours: Sunday–Thursday 8:00–18:00; Friday 8:00–14:00; closed Saturday. Verify current hours at gvahatacharad.co.il before visiting — holiday schedules can vary.
Entry: The outdoor trench complex and memorial park are free. The Paratroopers’ Museum charges a small admission fee — check the current rate at the official site as it changes.
Audio guide: Available in English, Hebrew and Russian. Recommended for visitors without prior knowledge of the battle; the trench layout is not self-explanatory without chronological context.
Accessibility: The entire site — trenches, museum and memorial park — is paved and accessible for visitors with limited mobility. The trench passages are wide enough for wheelchairs; some sections have gradual slopes rather than steps.
Time needed: 1.5–2 hours for a thorough visit.
Getting there:
The most historically coherent Jerusalem day combines Ammunition Hill in the morning (the battle that opened the way) with the Western Wall and Jewish Quarter in the afternoon (what the battle made accessible). The light rail’s Blue Line connects Ammunition Hill station to the Old City area in under 20 minutes.
If you also want to visit the Western Wall Tunnels — the underground tour of the Herodian retaining wall — book tickets in advance; they sell out.
Ammunition Hill fits naturally into longer heritage itineraries:
The site is open year-round. Morning visits (before 11am) avoid the midday heat in summer and typically have fewer group tours, allowing quieter time in the trenches. Spring and autumn are the most comfortable seasons weather-wise. Independence Day (Yom HaAtzmaut) and Memorial Day (Yom HaZikaron, the day before) see elevated attendance as Israeli families visit the site; the national atmosphere on those days is profound but the site can be crowded.
Use these guides to plan the wider Jerusalem visit: day trips from Jerusalem for excursions beyond the city; 1 day in Jerusalem itinerary for a compact city overview; Jerusalem food guide for where to eat near the Old City and north Jerusalem; and Jewish heritage Israel guide for the broader heritage circuit across the country. For guided options, see the best tours in Israel. Book accommodation with our Jerusalem hotel search.
Yes — entry to the outdoor trench complex and grounds at Ammunition Hill is free. The Paratroopers' Museum inside the main building charges a small admission fee (verify the current rate at gvahatacharad.co.il before visiting, as fees can change). Audio guides in English are available for an additional fee and are recommended for visitors without prior knowledge of the battle. Parking on site is free.
By light rail: the Ammunition Hill station (Blue Line) is a short walk from the memorial site — the Blue Line connects the Old City area (City Hall station) to Ammunition Hill in about 15 minutes. By taxi: approximately 15 minutes from the Jaffa Gate area; expect to pay ₪30–45. By bus: routes 25 and 28 stop near the site from Damascus Gate. There is free parking on site for visitors arriving by car.
Plan 1.5 to 2 hours for a thorough visit: the preserved trench system alone takes 45–60 minutes to walk through properly, following the battle chronology from entry point to communications bunker to command post. The Paratroopers' Museum adds another 30–45 minutes of archival photographs, weapons, battle maps and veteran testimonies. If you also walk the outdoor memorial park and read the individual plaques for the fallen, allow the full two hours.
Ammunition Hill is suitable for older children (roughly 10 and above) who are emotionally ready for a site about war and loss. The preserved trenches are authentic and physically intact — they can be walked through rather than observed from a distance, which some children find engaging. The subject matter involves combat death on both sides; families should brief children in advance. The site is fully paved and accessible throughout.
According to IDF historical records, the Israeli paratroopers sustained 36 killed and around 90 wounded in the battle fought on the night of June 5–6, 1967. The Jordanian Arab Legion defenders suffered approximately 182 killed. The engagement lasted roughly four hours of close-quarters fighting in the underground trench complex. It was the single costliest battle for Israeli forces during the entire 1967 Six-Day War — a fact that makes the memorial site particularly significant in Israeli collective memory.
Ammunition Hill commanded the northern approach corridor into East Jerusalem. Its capture on the opening night of the Six-Day War allowed Israeli paratroopers to advance toward the Ambassador Hotel and, the following morning, to the Lions' Gate and the Western Wall. The paratrooper brigade's reunion with the Western Wall on June 7, 1967 — captured in the iconic photograph of soldiers weeping at the Wall — is one of the defining moments of modern Israeli history. Ammunition Hill was the battle that made it possible. The site is now a national memorial site administered by the Jerusalem Municipality.
Yes — Ammunition Hill pairs naturally with other Jerusalem heritage sites. The most logical combination is a Six-Day War morning (Ammunition Hill, 1.5–2h) followed by afternoon at the Western Wall and Jewish Quarter (the sites whose liberation the battle made possible). It also fits well alongside Yad Vashem (both are west/north Jerusalem, each requiring about half a day); or as the northern terminus walk of the Jerusalem Trail (Segment 4 ends at Ammunition Hill). The light rail connects all of these areas.
By The Visit Israel Editorial Team · Last updated