The last section of the Jewish Quarter to fall to the Arabs was Batei Machse – it was eventually taken after fierce battles.
Jews who were killed in the course of the fighting in the Old City were buried in graves in the Jewish Quarter itself, despite the halachic prohibition of burying the dead within the walls. Since the Jewish Quarter was under siege, and it was therefore impossible to remove the bodies for burial, a halachic disposition was given for temporary burial within the walls. However, towards the end of the battle, there was no time left to complete the work of burial, and eight corpses were left at the mercy of the Arabs when the Quarter was finally abandoned.

Years later, during the Six-Day War (5727, 1967ce), Jewish forces liberated the Old City and entered the streets from which they had been banished almost twenty years previously. They were approached by an Arab, who claimed that during the War of Independence, he had personally buried the eight abandoned corpses – not only that, but he had endured beatings at the hands of the Jordanian legionnaires for burying them, rather than burning the bodies.

When his story was investigated and the site exhumed, indeed, remains of bodies were found there, among them that of a young boy, Nissim Gini. The bodies were removed and re-interred on the heights of the Mount of Olives.