Israel's Eighty Ninth Battalion (commanded by Dov…

Israel's Eighty Ninth Battalion (commanded by Dov Chesis) of the 8th Armored Brigade led by the founder of the Palmach, Yitzhak Sadeh, had captured, without a fight, the large village of al-Dawayima on the western side of the Hebron mountains, with a population of some thirty-five hundred, on October 29, five days after the start of the truce.

The massacre of about eighty to two hundred civilians, mostly women and children, follows the village's capture, precipitating a massive flight of people from that village, located eighteen kilometers northwest of the city of Hebron.

The massacre is seen as a reprisal by the Israelis for the massacre of Jews in Kfar Etzion months before, on May 13, 1948, by Palestinian fighters and some members of the Arab Legion.

The massacre will be cited by Yigal Allon as the reason for the halting of the creeping annexation that has included Bayt Jibrin, Qubeiba and Tel Maresha.