Coordinates: 31°31′58″N 34°55′4″E / 31.53278°N 34.91778°E / 31.53278; 34.91778 The al-Dawayima massacre describes the killing of civilians by the Israeli Army (IDF) that took place in the Palestinian Arab town of al-Dawayima on October 28, 1948 during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The incident occurred after the town was captured by the IDF's 89th Commando Battalion during Operation Yoav. The battalion, whose first commander was Moshe Dayan, was composed of former Irgun and Lehi forces. They encountered only "light resistance" from the villagers, whose core clan, the Ahdibs, traced their ancestry to the conquest of Palestine by Umar ibn Khattab in the seventh century. Dawayima was situated a few kilometres west of Hebron. At the time, it had a population of 6,000 since some 4,000 Palestinian Arab refugees had taken refuge in the village prior to the massacre. The Haganah intelligence service (HIS) considered the village to be 'very friendly'. Fatality estimates range from 80 to 200 men, women and children.
Read more about Al-Dawayima Massacre: Scale, Eyewitness Accounts, The UN Inspection Team, Reactions
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