Following the defeat of Nazi Germany, tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors sought refuge in Palestine. The British mandatory government, constrained by the 1939 White Paper limiting Jewish immigration, maintained strict quotas and blockaded coastal waters. This policy provoked widespread outrage among the Jewish population and led to heightened insurgent activity against British military infrastructure.

As illegal immigration operations intensified, armed underground groups—including the Haganah, Irgun, and Lehi—coordinated attacks against British transportation, radar stations, and communication lines. Tension peaked on July 22, 1946, when the Irgun bombed the British administrative headquarters at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 91 people and deepening the rift between British authorities and the Yishuv.

Exhausted by economic strain at home and unable to reconcile Jewish and Arab national aspirations, the British government referred the question of Palestine to the newly formed United Nations in February 1947. After months of investigation by the UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 on November 29, 1947, recommending the partition of Palestine into independent Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem under international control.