 Zero Hour ( that is , the start of the attack ) was first fixed for midnight 23 May . But it was delayed 24 hours because it had not been possible to gather troops and weapons in time . Because no reconnaissance patrol was made the Israelis didn 't know the exact composition of enemy forces . Intelligence reports just talked about " local irregular forces " . On 24 May at 19 : 30 , Shlomo Shamir was warned that an enemy force of around 120 vehicles , comprising armoured vehicles and artillery , was probably moving towards Latrun , urged an attack . The attack was postponed by 2 hours and fixed at 22 : 00 . The attack was planned on two axes : 
