David Elazar continued to instruct Gonen to evacuate soldiers from strongpoints which were not yet surrounded, even though by October 7 most Israeli defences were encircled. Egyptian losses up to the morning of October 7 were only 280 killed and 20 tanks destroyed. Israeli losses were far heavier; the brigade in the Bar Lev Line was completely surrounded and most of its men were casualties while 200 were captured. Armored losses were 200–300 tanks destroyed. One source puts the losses at roughly 200 by morning, but several battalion-sized attacks to regain the forts around El-Qantarah, and to reach some of the central and southern forts incurred further casualties with over 50 tanks being destroyed. In subsequent days some of the defenders in the Bar Lev Line managed to break through Egyptian forces and return to their lines, or were extracted by Israeli forces in counterattacks that came later on.