The Attempted Attack on the Jenin Police

A unit from the 4th Company of the 3rd Battalion, headed by Company Commander Chaim Avinoam, left from moshav Kfar-Yechezkel. The force was late to arrive at its target, due to a delay in receiving the weapons from the cache, and the police patrol searches in the area. The explosion blasts in the Shafar'am police were heard in Jenin, joined by the power outage caused by the saboteurs who cut the Afula – Jenin electricity wires as planned. The sudden darkness was intended to aid the operation within the camp. The police siren went off and the policemen went into standby. . The force, which had already begun breaking in, was spotted and both sides opened fire. Avinoam consulted his seconds in command and decided to break off contact. The force retreated to kibbutz Cheftziba with no casualties. In an investigation held later on, Palmach Commander, Yigal Alon, said that the commander of the operation was wise in deciding to retreat, and added: "I don't expect you to lose half of your men, thereby proving to me that the mission was impossible."