Shafa Amr, a town in the sub-district of Haifa, had a population of 7,200 in 1945, of whom the overwhelming majority, 7,190, were Palestinian Arabs, with only 10 Jewish residents. During the Nakba, Shafa Amr was occupied by Israeli forces on July 16, 1948, as part of the first phase of Operation Dekel, which took place between July 8 and 14. The town's Druze population cooperated with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), while the Muslim quarter suffered heavy shelling, leading to the exodus of thousands of its residents, who fled to the nearby village of Saffuriyeh. Despite the turmoil, some refugees were allowed to return after the fall of Nazareth. Following the war, the remaining Arab population of Shafa Amr was placed under strict martial law, a situation that continued until 1967.