During the 1948 Palestine war, massacres and acts of terror were conducted by and against both sides. A campaign of massacres and violence against the Arab population – such as occurred in the expulsions from Lydda and Ramle and the Fall of Haifa – led to the expulsion and flight of over 700,000 Palestinians, with most of their urban areas being depopulated and destroyed. This violence and dispossession of the Palestinians is known today as the Nakba (Arabic for "the disaster").

Background

After about 30 years of conflict in Mandatory Palestine between Palestinian Arabs, British authorities and Palestinian Jews, the British decided in February 1947 to terminate the Mandate and, on 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 (II) recommending the adoption and implementation of a plan to partition Palestine.

The vote was rejected by the Arab parties, and was immediately followed by a civil war between Palestinian Arabs who were supported by the Arab Liberation Army against the Palestinian Jews, while the region was still fully under British rule. The day after the vote, Arabs launched attacks against the Jews, killing 126 of them during the first two weeks and 75 were massacred in a refugee camp in Aden as a retaliation. In Jerusalem, attacks targeted Jewish businesses and residents of Jewish neighborhoods, some of whom were stabbed in the street or murdered on buses. Jews were also attacked in Arab neighborhoods. In the Kibbutz of Gvulot, six Jewish teenage girls were murdered.Martin Gilbert, Routledge Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 2005. In major cities, snipers (including mercenaries) fired at Jewish pedestrians and traffic. The Carmel Market was also attacked and grenades were thrown in the Jewish quarters.Itamar Radai, Palestinians in Jerusalem and Jaffa, 1948: A Tale of Two cities, 2015 Across the country, Jewish cars were the target of stone throwing, while the consulates of Poland and Sweden, which voted in favor of partition, were attacked.Efraim Karsh, The Arab-Israeli conflict: The Palestine war 1948, 2008 In December 1947, one of the striking images remains the attack on the new Mamilla Mall.

On 15 May 1948, following the Israeli Declaration of Independence the previous day, the armies of a number of Arab countries invaded what had just ceased to be Mandatory Palestine, turning the conflict into the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The yishuv (now officially called Israel) suffered between 5,700 and 5,800 casualties.Morris (2008) p.406 The death toll on the Arab side is unclear, but according to Benny Morris, it might have been slightly higher or much higher than the Jewish one. In his book, Morris mentions an estimate of 12,000 provided by Haj Amin al-Husseini in 1950. These numbers amount to around 1 percent of the population of each side.Morris 2008, pp. 404–06.

Massacres The 30 November 1947 Palestinian attacks, including ambushes of Jewish buses near Kfar Syrkin, occurred hours after the UN voted to partition Palestine, produced the first fatalities of the 1948 war, and are generally regarded as marking its start.

According to several historians, between 10 and 70 massacres occurred during the 1948 war.Jawad (2007), Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War, in E. Benvenisti & al, Israel and the Palestinian Refugees, Berlin, Heidelberg, New-York: Springer, pp. 59–127Esber (2009), section Massacres, Psychological Warfare and Oblitaration, pp. 355–59. According to Benny Morris the Yishuv and later Israeli soldiers killed roughly 800 Arab civilians and prisoners of war in 24 massacres. Aryeh Yizthaki list 10 major massacres with more than 50 victims each.Esber (2009), p. 356 Palestinian researcher Salman Abu-Sitta lists 33 massacres, half of them occurring during the civil war period. Saleh Abdel Jawad lists 68 villages where acts of indiscriminate killing of prisoners, and civilians took place, where no threat was posed to Yishuv or Israeli soldiers.Saleh Abdel Jawad (2007), Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War, in E. Benvenisti & al, Israel and the Palestinian Refugees, Berlin, Heidelberg, New-York : Springer, pp. 59–127

The main massacres and attacks against Jewish civilians were the Haifa Oil Refinery massacre where 39 Jews were killed by Arab workers after Irgun members had thrown a bomb into the crowd and the Kfar Etzion massacre where around 120–150 residents and defenders were killed by Arab irregulars, according to some accounts with the participation of Arab Legion soldiers. The Hadassah medical convoy massacre, with 80 deaths, included the mass killing of medical personnel by Arabs.Gelber (2006), pp. 21, 77.Karsh (2002), pp. 33, 44, 51

According to Rosemarie Esber, both Israeli archives and Palestinian testimonies confirm killings occurred in numerous Arab villages. Most of these killings occurred as villages were overrun and captured during the Second phase of the Civil War, Operation Dani, Operation Hiram and Operation Yoav.Esber (2009), p.356 referring to Aryeh Yitzhaki, Israeli historian who served as director of the IDF archives who stated : "In almost every conquered village (...), Zionist forces committed war crimes such as indiscriminate killings, massacres and rapes." Morris said that the "worst cases" were the Saliha massacre with 60 to 70 killed, the Deir Yassin massacre with around 112, the Lydda massacre with around 250, the Tantura massacre with between 40 and 200+,Pappé (2006), pp.133–137Gelber (2006), Appendix III – Folklore versus History. The Tantura Blood Libel, pp. 319–27. and the Abu Shusha massacre with 60–70. In Al-Dawayima, accounts of the death toll vary. Saleh Abd al-Jawad reports 100–200 casualties, Morris has estimated "hundreds" and also reports the IDF investigation which concluded 100 villagers had been killed.Benny Morris (2008), 1948: An History the First Arab-Israeli War, p. 333. David Ben-Gurion gave the figure of 70–80.Morris, 2004, p. 469–470. Saleh Abd al-Jawad reports on the village's mukhtar accountPappé (2006), p. 196. that 455 people were missing following the al-Dawayima massacre, including 170 women and children.

Bombing attacks At the beginning of the Civil War, Jewish militias organized several bombing attacks against civilians and military Arab targets. On 12 December 1947, the Irgun placed a car bomb opposite the Damascus Gate, the main entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem, killing 20 people.Karsh (2002), p. 32 On 4 January 1948, the Lehi detonated a lorry bomb against the headquarters of the paramilitary al-Najjada located in Jaffa's Town Hall, killing 15 Arabs and injuring 80.Yoav Gelber, 'Palestine 1948', p. 20; The Scotsman newspaper, 6 January 1948; Walid Khalidi states that 25 civilians were killed, in addition to the military targets. 'Before Their Diaspora', 1984. p. 316, picture p. 325; Benny Morris, 'The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949', Cambridge University Press, p. 46.

During the night between 5 and 6 January, in Jerusalem, the Haganah bombed the Semiramis Hotel that had been reported to hide Arab militiamen, killing 24 people.Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, p. 123. The next day, Irgun members in a stolen police van rolled a barrel bombLarry Collins/Dominique Lapierre, 'O Jerusalem'.History Book Club Weidenfeld and Nicolson. London. 1972. p. 135: 'two fifty-gallon oil drums packed tight with old nails, bits of scrap iron, hinges, rusty metal filings. At their center was a core of TNT...' into a large group of civilians who were waiting for a bus by the Jaffa Gate, killing 20.Collins/Lapierre. Page 138: 17 killedThe Scotsman, 8 January 1948: 16 killed, 41 injured.Palestine Post, 9 January 1948, p.1: "Jaffa Gate toll reaches 20". Another Irgun bomb went off in the Ramla market on 18 February, killing 7 residents and injuring 45.Embassy of Israel, London, website. 2002. Quoting Zeev Vilnai – 'Ramla past and present'. On 28 February, the Palmach organised a bombing attack against a garage in Haifa, killing 30 people.Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem revisited, p. 221.

From 1 February 1948, supporters of Amin al-Husseini organised, with the help of British deserters, three attacks against the Jewish community in Jerusalem. Using car bombs aimed at the headquarters of the Palestine Post, the Ben Yehuda Street market and the backyard of the Jewish Agency's offices, killing 22, 53 and 13 Jewish people respectively.Yoav Gelber (2006), p. 24Efraïm Karsh, 2002, p.36.Scotsman 24 February 1948: 'Jerusalem (Monday) – The 'High Command' of the Arab military organisation issued a communique to the newspapers here to-day claiming full responsibility for the explosion in Ben Yehuda Street on Sunday. It was said to be in reprisal for an attack by Irgun at Ramleh several days ago.'

During the first months of 1948, the railway between Cairo and Haifa was often targeted. On 31 March, it was mined near Binyamina, a Jewish settlement in the neighborhood of Caesarea, killing 40 persons and wounding 60. The casualties were all civilians, mostly Arabs. Although there were some soldiers on the train, none were injured. The Palestine Post and the New York Times attributed the attack to Lehi.The Palestine Post, 1 April 1948New York Times, 1 April 1948

List of killings and massacres Here is a non-exhaustive list of killings and massacres that took place during the war: