Following the adoption of the Partition Plan by the UN in November 1947, and as the British were preparing their withdrawal from Palestine, local Arabs, joined by paramilitary militias from the surrounding Arab countries, increased their attacks against the Jewish communities. Immediately after Israel's Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948, the armies of six Arab countries - Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Iraq - together with the local Arab militia forces attacked the nascent Jewish state from all directions. The avowed Arab goal was to prevent the implementation of the UN Partition Resolution and to violently remove the Jews from the land.

The State of Israel fought to retain its independence and succeeded in defeating the Arab armies, but in doing so lost around 4,000 Jewish soldiers and 2,000 civilians, approximately 1% of its total population at the time.