Editing King David Hotel bombing (section)

==Execution==
The perpetrators met at 7 am at the Beit Aharon Talmud Torah. This was the first time they were informed of the target.{{Citation needed|date=February 2015}} The attack used approximately {{convert|350|kg|abbr=on}} of explosives spread over six charges. According to Begin, due to "consultations" about the cancellation of the attack on the David Brothers Building, the operation was delayed and started at about 12:00, an hour later than planned.<ref name="begin51">Menachem Begin, ''The Revolt'', translated by Samuel Katz, W. H. Allen, London, First edition 1959, Revised edition 1979 {{ISBN?}}</ref>

After placing the bombs in the La Regence Cafe,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/e5df8808719296a179445ce521a66e52|title=Former Commander Of Deadly King David Hotel Attack Dies|website=www.apnewsarchive.com}}</ref> the Irgun men quickly slipped out and detonated a small explosive in the street outside the hotel, reportedly to keep passers-by away from the area.<ref name="begin51" /> The police report written in the aftermath of the bombing says that this explosion resulted in a higher death toll because it caused spectators from the hotel to gather in its south-west corner, directly over the bomb planted in its basement. The first explosion also caused the presence in the hotel of injured Arabs who were brought into the Secretariat after their bus, which had been passing, was rolled onto its side.<ref name="bethell" /> The Arab workers in the kitchen fled after being told to do so.<ref name="katz1966" />

There were two Irgun casualties, Avraham Abramovitz and Itzhak Tsadok. In one Irgun account of the bombing, by Katz, the two were shot during the initial approach to the hotel, when a minor gunfight ensued with two British soldiers who had become suspicious.<ref name="katz1966" /> In Yehuda Lapidot's account, the men were shot as they were withdrawing after the attack.<ref name="lapidot">Yehuda Lapidot, [https://www.daat.ac.il/daat/english/history/lapidot/17.htm Besieged – Jerusalem 1948 – Memories of an Irgun fighter]</ref> The latter agrees with the version of events presented by [[Nicholas Bethell, 4th Baron Bethell|Bethell]] and Thurston Clarke. According to Bethell, Abramovitz managed to get to the taxi getaway car along with six other men. Tsadok escaped with the other men on foot. Both were found by the police in the Jewish Old Quarter of Jerusalem the next day, with Abramovitz already dead from his wounds.<ref name="tclarke81" /><ref name="bethell" />