Operation Hametz

Belligerents

• Yishuv
  • Irgun
  • Haganah

Arab Liberation ArmyUnited KingdomCommanders and leadersMenachem Begin
Amichai Paglin UnknownGordon MacMillanCasualties and losses Irgun: 42 killed, ~400 wounded Unknown 1 killed
Several tanks destroyed

Operation Hametz (Hebrew: מבצע חמץ, Mivtza Hametz; 25–30 April 1948) was an operation to conquer Jaffa and towns around it conducted by the Irgun and the Haganah shortly before the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine, in the civil war phase of the 1948 Palestine war. The operation which led to the first direct battle between the British and the Irgun, was seen as a great victory for the latter, and enabled the Irgun to take credit for the complete conquest of Jaffa that happened on May 13. While the Haganah had no prior warning of the attack, some historians have argued that the operation constituted part of their Plan Dalet.

The battle was the first and only time that the British became heavily involved in fighting between the Jews and the Arabs during the 1948 Palestine war.