Ein al Zeitun at this time was an Arab village of about 800 inhabitants. It was believed by local Jews that Arabs from the village had taken part in a 1929 massacre of Jews in Safed and the massacre is assumed to be as a point of revenge. One Yiftah HQ report says that "30" Arab prisoners were "transferred to Golani [Brigade]". But a day or two later two Palmach soldiers, acting on Third Battalion OC Moshe Kelman's orders, murdered several dozen prisoners, probably including young men from Ein al-Zeitun, in the gully between Ein al-Zeitun and Safad.