Day 83 of 599 of מלחמת העצמאות MILḤEMET HAʾAẒMAʾUT (War of Independence)

The institutional voyage histories give 699 passengers and identify 141 children. Palyam describes sixty-three younger than three. It connects the decision not to resist boarding to the children's safety after a difficult winter voyage. Aircraft had discovered the ship on 19 February; destroyers approached on the twentieth.^{1 2}

JTA's contemporary bulletin rounds the passenger count to seven hundred and renders the vessel's name differently. Klir gives 704. None of these figures is a manifest checked here. Boarding and arrival are established more securely than the precise count and later detention-admission time.

The 20 February bulletin also reports an הארגון HAʾIRGUN attack that killed one imperial soldier and seriously wounded two. It describes the organization's claim that the shooting retaliated for destruction of homes. That explanation records its stated justification, not an independent finding about each targeted man's conduct.³

The same account says ההגנה HAʾHAGANA attacked an Arab bus on the road toward בית לחם BEIT LEḤEM, killing four and wounding three, after an attack on a bus serving תלפיות TALPIOT injured its driver and three passengers. The passengers' individual status is not supplied. Retaliatory sequence does not transform bus occupants into proven fighters.⁴

The naval interception and road attacks show different powers acting over movement. Imperial authorities excluded immigrants, while armed groups endangered local journeys. Their causes and responsibilities remain separate. The bulletin's relative wording is retained as contemporary reportage where no independently dated incident record has been recovered.

This is Day 83 of the 599-day civil-date series: 1948-02-20. Its daytime portion maps to י׳ באדר א׳ ה׳תש״ח 10th 𝑜𝑓 Adar I, AM 5708. After local sunset, the Hebrew date changes to י״א באדר א׳ ה׳תש״ח 11th 𝑜𝑓 Adar I, AM 5708. This calendar convention does not prove that every reported act occurred in daylight.

The voyage histories expressly date port arrival to 20 February. Other violent incidents are covered in the 20 February bulletin, with exact dispatch timing unresolved. The 19 February sighting and later Cyprus detention are separate stages. ⁵

• What does the dated evidence establish, and what remains uncertain?
• How did this event affect the safety, institutions or sovereignty of יהודים YEHUDIM?