The al-Dawayima massacre was the killing of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli army (IDF) that took place in the town of al-Dawayima on October 29, 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The incident occurred after the town was occupied by the IDF's 89th Commando Battalion during Operation Yoav, encountering little resistance.
Benny Morris has estimated that hundreds of people were killed. Lieutenant-General John Bagot Glubb, the British commander of Jordan's Arab Legion stated the numbers were much smaller, citing a UN report for a figure of 30 women and children killed. A follow-up report delivered to the United Nations by a delegation from the Arab Refugee Congress reported that the Arab Legion had had an interest in underplaying the extent of the massacre, which was, it claimed, worse than the Deir Yassin massacre, in order to avoid further panic and refugee flight. The village mukhtar Hassan Mahmoud Ihdeib, in a sworn statement, estimated the number of victims as 145.
Background
thumb|Al-Dawayima 1933
Prior to the attack the village had a population of 6,000, with some 4,000 of that number being recently displaced refugees. The Haganah intelligence service (HIS) considered the village to be 'very friendly'. The original of the letter was removed from the archive where it has previously been available.
The soldier-witness, according to Kaplan, said
From the sworn Statement given by the Mukhtar of Dawaymeh village, Hassan Mahmaod Ihdeib.