Al-Bassa was harmed by Haganah troops in May 1948.
 By AprilMay, the Haganah was conducting brigade size offensive
 As Palmach members refused to participate, a unit of about 200 men from regular Haganah units was mobilized, and foiled several operations against the British, including a potentially devastating attack on the British military headquarters at Citrus House in Tel Aviv, in which a Haganah member was killed by an Irgun bomb

