King David Hotel Bombing: History, Facts, and Today

On 22 July 1946, an Irgun bombing of the southern wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem killed 91 people and collapsed a building that housed both the British Mandate headquarters and a functioning luxury hotel. This article examines what happened, why the hotel was targeted, whether it still exists today, and how the event is remembered — drawing on archives, academic studies, and government records.

Last checked: 2026-05-27

Date: 22 July 1946 · Location: Jerusalem, British Mandate Palestine · Perpetrator: Irgun (militant Zionist organization) · Casualties: 91 killed (BBC) / 96 killed (UK Parliament)

What Happened in the King David Hotel?

At approximately 12:30 p.m. on 22 July 1946, a team from the Irgun Zvai Leumi disguised as Arab workers and milkmen entered the King David Hotel through the service entrance, carrying explosives in large metal milk churns. Each churn held roughly 50 pounds (23 kg) of high explosive, according to reconstructions of the operation cited by War on the Rocks.

The bombs were placed in the basement near the La Regence nightclub area and detonated during lunchtime. The blast collapsed the entire southern wing of the hotel, which housed the British military command and the Government Secretariat of Mandatory Palestine, including the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) according to the Jewish Virtual Library. The hotel itself remained open to civilian guests — it was a dual-function building.

Rescue efforts continued for two days. Photographs taken on 24 July 1946 show British soldiers and local civilians still pulling survivors from the rubble, as documented by the Imperial War Museum and referenced by the Palestinian Encyclopedia of the Palestinian Question (PalQuest).

“The scale of the structural collapse was immense — the entire south wing was gone, and rescuers worked for 48 hours straight.”

— Imperial War Museum photo caption, 24 July 1946, cited by PalQuest

Why Was the King David Hotel Bombed?

Three weeks before the bombing, on 29 June 1946, British forces launched Operation Agatha — known to the Jewish community as “Black Sabbath” — arresting roughly 2,500 to 3,000 Jews and seizing extensive documents from the Jewish Agency. Those documents were later stored in the King David Hotel’s south wing.

Irgun leader Menachem Begin — who later became Prime Minister of Israel — justified the operation as a proportional reprisal in his memoir. The Irgun’s stated goals were to destroy or recover the seized documents and to pressure the British to end the Mandate and permit Jewish immigration. The attack was part of a broader Irgun campaign spanning 1944–1947 to drive the British out of Palestine and pave the way for a Jewish state, according to a British Journalism Review analysis of the campaign’s strategy.

The attack remains controversial in legal and moral terms. The hotel housed both a working civilian hotel and military-administrative offices, which makes its classification — was it a legitimate military target? — contested. Bruce Hoffman’s 2020 study in the journal Small Wars & Insurgencies classifies the bombing as an early form of modern urban terrorism against a symbolic administrative centre.

Does the King David Hotel Still Exist?

Yes. The King David Hotel was rebuilt after the bombing. The south wing was restored on a partial basis by 1947 and fully reopened in 1948, according to the Wikipedia entry on the bombing (which cites multiple newspaper archives and hotel records). The hotel today operates as a flagship property of the Dan Hotels chain, located in West Jerusalem on the original site.

The building’s exterior was reconstructed to match the pre-bombing appearance, though the interior was modernised. Plaques and exhibits at or near the site present differing historical narratives depending on the sponsor — some focus on the Irgun’s perspective, others on the civilian casualties.

What Is the King David Hotel Used for Today?

Since reopening in 1948, the King David Hotel has been a luxury hotel and conference venue. It is a landmark in West Jerusalem and frequently hosts political delegations, state events, and large conferences. The hotel is owned and operated by Dan Hotels, an Israeli hospitality group.

In 2006, a controversial event marking the 60th anniversary of the bombing — organised by right-wing Israeli groups and attended by former Irgun members — drew international criticism. That anniversary underscored how the memory of the bombing remains politically divisive, with Israeli right-wing circles sometimes celebrating it as an act of resistance and Palestinian and British narratives viewing it as a terrorist attack, as noted in the Wikipedia article.

Today, the hotel’s daily operations focus on hospitality rather than history. Its south wing — the site of the 1946 bombing — is fully rebuilt and houses guest rooms and event spaces, with no visible trace of the collapse. For another example of a historic hotel that has been rebuilt and continues to operate, see the Palace Hotel Mackay.