The operation was led by Ben Dunkelman, a Canadian volunteer who was the commander of the Sheva' Brigade.
July 15, Israeli aircrafts bombed the village Saffuriya and caused panic among the population. Most of the villagers fled northwards toward Lebanon only about 100 elderly stayed put.
July 16, in the evening Nazareth surrendered to the Israelis after a light fight which only involved one Israeli casualty and one wounded. The ALA forces in the village under the command of Fawzi al-Qawuqji retreated to the mountains in the north. In sharp contrast to the surrounding towns, the inhabitants in Nazareth were never forced to evacuate.
Operation Dani was the most important one, aimed at securing and enlarging the corridor between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv by capturing the roadside cities Lydda (later renamed Lod) and Ramle.
Originally the operation was to be done on July 8, immediately after the first truce, by Irgun and Lehi but it was delayed by David Shaltiel possibly because he did not trust their ability after their failure to capture Deir Yassin without Haganah's assistance.
The operations were launched due to the belief that the UN would hand out all the territories the Israelis had managed to capture to the Arab states until the UN imposed a cease-fire.
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