In March 1799, during the Egyptian campaign, the French expedition led by Napoleon advanced along the Palestinian coast, laying siege to every fortified city it encountered until it reached Jaffa. On March 7, Bonaparte, before beginning the bombardment, which would be followed by an infantry assault as soon as the cannons breached the walls, sent a gentle messenger requesting surrender, declaring: "[My] heart is moved by the evil that will befall the entire city if it were subjected to this assault." The governor responded by displaying his messenger's head on the walls. What followed was a massacre. The cannons opened fire, collapsing part of the walls and thereby creating an access route into the city. After routing the defenders, the French indulged in looting and all manner of violence.

A savant described the carnage: "The scenes were terrible [...] the sound of gunfire, the screams of women and fathers, the piles of corpses, a daughter raped on her mother's corpse, the smell of blood, the groans of the wounded, the cries of the victors squabbling over the spoils." It all ended only when they were "sated with blood and gold" and rested "on a mountain of dead." At the end of the battle, 60 Frenchmen were killed and 150 wounded; the number of fallen defenders and civilian casualties is unknown.

However, the bloodshed did not end. The French had taken 3,000 prisoners, and on March 9 and 10, the prisoners were taken 1.5 kilometres south of the city, to the beach. Bonaparte had given precise instructions to General Berthier: "You will order the adjutant to lead all the captured artillerymen and other Turks to the water's edge [...] and have them shot, taking precautions to ensure that none escape." A quartermaster described what happened:

"[…] they were all taken to the seashore, and two battalions began shooting them. To try to save themselves, they could only throw themselves into the sea. Nevertheless, they managed to shoot them even there, and in an instant, the sea was stained with blood and covered with corpses. Some had managed to escape to safety on the rocks; they sent boats with soldiers to finish them off. We left a detachment on the beach, and our perfidiousness attracted some of them, who were mercilessly massacred [...]. They had warned us not to use [gunpowder], and we had the ferocity to kill them with bayonets."