 Benny Morris said Haifa 's Arabs left due to of a combination of Zionist threats and encouragement to do so by Arab leaders . Ilan <unk> writes that the shelling culminated in an attack on a Palestinian crowd in the old marketplace using three @-@ inch ( 76 mm ) mortars on 22 April 1948 . Shabtai Levy , the Mayor of the city , and some other Jewish leaders urged Arabs not to leave . According to Ilan <unk> , Jewish <unk> could be heard in the city ordering Arab residents to leave " before it 's too late . " Morris quotes British sources as stating that during the battles between 22 and 23 April 100 Arabs were killed and 100 wounded , but he adds that the total may have been higher . 
