(For other battles, see Battle of Haifa (disambiguation).) The Battle of Haifa, called by the Jewish forces Operation Bi'ur Hametz (Hebrew: מבצע ביעור חמץ‎‎, "Passover Cleaning") was a Haganah operation carried out on 21–22 April 1948. The objective of the operation was the capture of the Arab neighborhoods of Haifa and was a major event in the final stages of the civil war in Palestine, leading up to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.