The siege of Jaffa was a military engagement between the French army under Napoleon Bonaparte and Ottoman forces under Ahmed al-Jazzar.

[3][4] For the pillaging of the city, the murder of its civilian population and the execution of 4,100 Ottoman prisoners of war, the siege of Jaffa has been called "one of the most tragic episodes of [Napoleon's] Egyptian campaign.

The murder of the French messengers led Napoleon, when the city fell, to allow his soldiers two days and two nights of slaughter, pillage and rape.

[12][4][3] The moral and legal justification – or the lack of it – for Bonaparte's decision to execute the Ottoman prisoners was and is a matter of strong debate.

Following his army's recent victory over Ottoman troops at El-Arrish, he'd released prisoners taken in battle, provided that they return to Damascus and not rejoin the pasha's forces in Jaffa or Acre, his two military objectives.

The final motivation Bonaparte had was that by showing no mercy to the enemy he would strike terror in the ranks of Ahmed al-Jazzar's troops.

Months later, when Bonaparte attacked Aboukir, the French reputation for showing no mercy caused many of the Ottoman soldiers to flee.

After his departure, the British, allied to the Ottomans and commanded by William Sidney Smith, rebuilt Jaffa's fortifications.