Renewed fighting near ميعار MIʿAR exposed the continuing danger during the truce, while a UN investigation addressed earlier observer murders and a separate service death ended a survivor’s life.

What happened near the village?

The nighttime attack was reported in the September 6 briefing: four soldiers killed and several positions lost. The planned recapture was not a verified outcome. The village’s earlier July displacement is separate. 1

Which earlier deaths did the UN investigate?

Bernadotte submitted findings about the two murdered French observers at עזה AZA. PAL/277, issued September 7, identifies September 6 submission and Saudi Arabian irregulars under Egyptian command. Egyptian regulars attempted rescue. The article preserves the unresolved August 28/29 occurrence-date conflict; neither a finding nor its publication creates another pair of deaths. 2

Whose service death was separate from the fighting?

The official memorial biography dates the death of מנחם מנדל Shmuelevitz MENAḤEM MENDEL to September 6 and 2 Elul. He died from a venomous snakebite at a position near Birwa, after surviving Nazi camps and reaching the homeland aboard Altalena. His parents were murdered, but he found a surviving brother after liberation. He was therefore neither one of the four reported battle dead on this evidence nor an established last family survivor. The retrospective biography identifies a noncombat service death; medical and unit records remain unexamined. 3

How is this dated?

This is Day 282 of the 599-day civil-date series: 1948-09-06. Its public OTD route ב׳ באלול ה׳תש״ח 2nd 𝑜𝑓 Elul, AM 5708 is the fixed Hebrew-calendar daytime conversion for this civil slot. Events after sunset belong to ג׳ באלול ה׳תש״ח 3rd 𝑜𝑓 Elul, AM 5708; their actual occurrence routes are distinguished from this daily recap. 4 The preceding night near Mi’ar belongs to 2 Elul; the separate memorial supplies both September 6 and 2 Elul. The UN investigation reports earlier August killings.

Guided reflections

  • Why can the four reported Mi’ar battle deaths not include the separately documented snakebite death?
  • How does the surviving brother constrain the family-survival claim about Shmuelevitz?

Footnotes

  1. https://bengurionarchive.bgu.ac.il/en/node/10818 Record 225102, last night attack. ↩
  2. https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-202871/ PAL/277, 7 September, investigation submitted 6 September. ↩
  3. https://www.izkor.gov.il/מנחם-מנדל%20שמואלביץ/en_5d6aec92686a7ff4d8d37fae2d9e378e Yizkor biography, parents, surviving brother, immigration and final paragraph with dual date. ↩
  4. https://bengurionarchive.bgu.ac.il/en/node/10818 Dated witness and source relationships discussed above. ↩