United Kingdom The Italian bombing of Mandatory Palestine in World War II was part of an effort by the Royal Italian Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) to strike at the United Kingdom by attacking those parts of the British Empire in the Middle East.

[1] Starting in July 1940, the Italian bombing of the British Mandate of Palestine was primarily centered on Tel Aviv and Haifa.

The 29 July 1940 issue of Time reported a bombing at Haifa by SM82 bombers during the previous week, with a dozen casualties.

Where the British oil pipeline from Kirkuk reaches tidewater, "Ten big Italian bombers, flying at great altitude from the Dodecanese Islands, giving the British bases at Cyprus a wide berth, dropped 50 bombs on the Haifa oil terminal and refinery."

[7] Historian Alberto Rosselli[8] pinpointed that the bombing of Tel Aviv that killed 137 people was because the Italian bombers were on their way to the strategic port and refineries of Haifa, but were intercepted by British aircraft.