Haifa Oil Refinery massacre
The Haifa Oil Refinery massacre took place on 30 December 1947 in Mandatory Palestine. After six Arabs were killed by grenades thrown by the Zionist paramilitary organisation Irgun, 39 Jewish refinery workers were killed by Arab labourers.
| Haifa Oil Refinery massacre | |
|---|---|
| Location | Haifa |
| Date | 30 December 1947 |
| Target | Arab and Jewish workers of Haifa Oil Refinery |
| Deaths | 45 |
| Injured | 91 |
| Victim | Arab and Jewish workers of Haifa Oil Refinery |
| Perpetrators | Irgun and Arab mob |
Six Arabs were killed and 42 were wounded after Irgun members threw a number of hand grenades at a crowd of about 100 day-labourers waiting at a bus stop outside the main gate of the then British-owned Haifa Oil Refinery. Minutes after the Irgun attack, Arab refinery workers and others began attacking the Jewish refinery workers, resulting in 39 deaths and 49 injuries, before the British Army and Palestine Police units arrived to put an end to the violence. This came to be known as the "Haifa Oil Refinery massacre". Haganah later retaliated by attacking two nearby Arab villages in what became known as the Balad al-Shaykh massacre, where between 21 and 70 Arabs were killed, while skirmishes followed in Haifa.