This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.Ze'ev "Zonic" Steinberg On the evening of December 8, 1947, about four-hundred well-trained Palestinians led by Hasan Salama attacked Hatikva a dense, working-class Temani neighborhood, and were repelled by 100 Jewish fighters, including elements of the recently-formed Haganah Givati Brigade.

[citation needed] The neighborhood's civilian inhabitants, primarily old Yemenite Jews, responded quickly by rushing into the city's theaters and restaurants and raising the alert.

On the night of December 8, 1947, 400 Arab Nationalist fighters commanded by Hasan Salama attacked the Hatikvah and Beit Yaakov neighborhoods.

In response, Hasan Salama took advantage of the situation and planned to "teach the Jews a lesson" by executing a battleplan he'd already prepared.

On 4 December, a minor incursion by Arabs into Tel Aviv torched several buildings and their steady gunfire kept Yeshuv firefighters unable to reach the scene.

[6] On 5 December, a Haganah defense patrol was fired on by Salameh residents, resulting in one death, Nissim Aziz, the first casualty of Israel's War of Independence.

He instructed the civilians of Salameh to prepare sacks and torches to loot the Beit Yakov and Hatikvah neighborhoods, planning the attack for Monday, 8 December.

On the morning of 8 December, Tel Aviv headquarters received warning that 400 Arab fighters were seen mobilizing in the area and declared a "very serious situation."

"We must wait for an attack on Tel Aviv" Immediately after the UN Partition vote on 30 November 1947, the Supreme Muslim Council headed by Amin al-Husseini appointed Hasan Salama to command the Arab forces in the Lod-Ramla area.

This advance was a feint attack, intended to trick the defenders to the neighborhood of Beit Yakov instead of the main assault at Hatikvah.

The Arabs initially spread the false rumor that they had prevailed and burned Hatikvah neighborhood to the ground, but once the truth was clear, the jubilation in Ramle turned to a day of mourning.

The IDF surrounded the village minus a narrow escape corridor, and the Arab forces and residents retreated without firing a shot.