In November 1947, an Egged bus which left Netanya for Jerusalem was attacked in Petah Tikva. In 1948, following the withdrawal of British forces from Netanya and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, a large military base was established in the city. On December 3, 1948, after fighting in the area had calmed down, Netanya was designated a city, the first city to be designated in the newly established State of Israel. A number of nearby settlements, Ramat Tiomkin, Ein Hatchlelet, Pardes Hagdud, and Ramat Ephraim, were annexed to Netanya. At this time, Netanya had a population of 11,600. In 1949, the Kiryat Eliezer Kaplan Industrial Zone was inaugurated and the nearby settlement of Neve Itamar, which had been founded in 1944, was annexed to Netanya.