The conflict occurred on the shores of the eastern Nile Delta and on the border of the Egyptian Empire in Syria, although precise locations of the battles are unknown.

Since the Medinet Habu inscriptions depict women and children loaded in ox carts, the attackers are believed to have been migrants looking for a place to settle.

[ie: cut down]"[5]After defeating the Sea Peoples on land in Syria, Ramesses rushed back to Egypt where preparations for the invaders' assault had already been completed.

Ramesses also lined the shores of the Nile Delta with ranks of archers who were ready to release volleys of arrows into the enemy ships if they attempted to land.

They were dragged, overturned, and laid low upon the beach; slain and made heaps from stern to bow of their galleys, while all their things were cast upon the water.

Although defeated in the Delta, some of the Sea Peoples (specifically the Peleset) are believed to have settled in the Southern Levant some time after Ramesses' death.