Safsaf was the first village to be occupied during Operation Hiram. It fell some time before dawn on 29 October 1948, and was the scene of one of several massacres committed during the operation. Two platoons of armored cars and a tank company from the Sheva' {Seventh) Brigade attacked the village. "52 men tied with a rope and dropped into a well and shot. 10 were killed. 3 cases of rape … A girl aged 14 was raped. Another 4 were killed. Eyewitnesses, they said that when the attack began on the village, the militiamen were braced to defend it but were surprised by a three-pronged assault. One militiaman said later, "We did not expect to fight them on three fronts". Those left behind recounted how the Israeli soldiers entered Safsaf around sunrise and ordered the village to line up a spot in the northern part of the village. "As we lined up, a few Jewish soldiers ordered four girls to accompany them to carry water for the soldiers. Instead, they took them to our empty houses and raped them. About seventy of our men were blindfolded and shot to death, one after the other, in front of us". In later days, Israeli troops visited the village, telling the inhabitants that they should forget what had occurred and could stay in their homes. But they began to leave under cover of night, until Safsaf was empty. Israel established the settlement of ha-Shahar, later renamed Sifsofa, in 1949. A second settlement, Bar Yochay was established in 1979, also in the village lands. The site is overgrown with grass and scattered trees among which can be seen a few terraces and piles of stone from destroyed houses. A few houses are inhabited by Israelis. A fraction of surrounding land is cultivated by the settlements, and the rest is forested.