A refugee vessel carrying 1,300 visaless immigrants, the fourth to arrive this week, was sighted by British reconnaissance planes today and four more ships with approximately 10,000 Jewish refugees aboard were reported to be on the high seas headed for Palestine.
The fourth steamer, the Raffiah, together with the S.S. Yagour, which entered the harbor this morning, crowded to the rails with 2,000 passengers, brought the number of “illegals” arriving within the past four days to over 6,500.
Earlier today, the 3,300 men, women and children held aboard the S.S. Haganah and the Hahayal Haivri, went on a short hunger strike which was ended when authorities agreed to permit their disembarkation tomorrow morning. Lieut. Gen. Sir Evelyn Barker, British military commander in Palestine, boarded the Haganah this morning and spoke to the refugees.
Jewish hospitals in Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Tiberias are setting up emergency wards to care for the thousands of arrivals, many of whom are ill and suffering from hunger, thirst, and physical exhaustion. One observer who inspected the ships already at anchor in Haifa harbor described conditions aboard the overcrowded vessels as “appalling.”
Placards appeared throughout the Jewish quarter of Haifa tonight, calling upon the Jews “to prepare for action if the Palestine Government does not free the immigrants now lying off Haifa.” The posters were signed simply “Yishuv.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
