Marcelle Ninio, who was imprisoned for her role in an Israeli spy operation in 1954 that planted bombs at British and American civilian sites in Egypt in a bungled attempt to persuade Britain to keep its troops stationed at the Suez Canal , died on Oct. 23 in Ramat Gan , Israel, near Tel Aviv. She was 89.

Her daughter-in-law Ronit Nevo Boger confirmed the death.

Ms. Ninio, who was born in Egypt, was a devoted Zionist. She was working as a secretary in Cairo when she was recruited in 1951 by an Israeli intelligence agent to the secret Unit 131. She was the only woman in a group of about a dozen Egyptians.

The outfit was largely dormant until 1954, when Gamal Abdel Nasser seized authority in Egypt after leading the coup that overthrew the monarchy of King Farouk two years earlier . Israel was concerned that Nasser would nationalize the Suez Canal and block access to that critical shipping route.

Unit 1 31 ’s mission was to detonate bombs in an operation designed to convince British and American leaders that Nasser could not protect their property or their people. But Operation Susannah, as the mission was called, did nothing to disrupt Western policy toward Egypt.