At the onset of World War II, there was a desperate, last-minute effort to evacuate as many Jews as possible from Europe. There was fleeting hope that, in light of the war and the immediate danger faced by European Jews, the British might relax their policies outlined in the White Paper of May 1939 — or, at the very least, allow the 100,000 who were permitted to immigrate to do so sooner. However, the British were increasingly concerned about the opinions of the Arabs, fearing they might align with the Nazis. On July 3, 1940, the British government issued a statement saying, “His Majesty’s Government do not see any reason to make any change in their policy for Palestine as laid down in May 1939, and it remains unchanged.” The Haganah did its best to smuggle Jews into the land, yet most were intercepted by British troops. Under British policy, intercepted Jews were sent to the Mauritius Islands. In one instance, 1,900 Jews were loaded onto an old transport ship, named the “SS Patria” in Haifa. The Haganah aimed to prevent the ship’s departure from Palestine by planting a small bomb, to create a minor leak. Tragically, the explosion was considerably more powerful than expected, causing the Patria to sink almost immediately, taking with it 240 Jews and a dozen British officials. Soon after, another old ship, the “SS Atlantic”, arrived. This time, 1,600 Jewish refugees were successfully sent to Mauritius. After that, the “SS Salvador” barely made it into Haifa Harbor, before the ship was forced to head back to Bulgaria. Unfortunately, the old vessel capsized in the Turkish Straits; resulting in the survival of only 70 of its 350 passengers. In December 1941, the “SS Struma”, which had left Bulgaria plagued with a failing engine and a leaking hull, arrived with passengers who desperately sought asylum from the Turkish authorities, only to be turned away. The Jewish Agency made an urgent appeal to the British to allow the Jews into Palestine, even suggesting they could be sent to Mauritius afterward. Despite these pleas, the British government remained unmoved and denied the request. After two months, the Turks ordered the “SS Struma” out of their harbor. On February 24, 1942, the Turks towed the “SS Struma” out to sea, where it foundered and sank, taking 428 men, 269 women, and 70 children down with the ship. This catastrophic event horrified the Jews of Palestine, and even disturbed the British government. Subsequently, only a handful of additional ships tried to reach Palestine during the war, but none succeeded. The Yishuv also dispatched agents to parachute into the Balkans to gather intelligence for the British and assist in rescuing Jews. Nine parachutists were deployed into Romania, three into Hungary, two into Bulgaria, three into Italy, six into Slovakia, and nine into Yugoslavia. The most famous of these parachutist agents was Hannah Szenes, who was captured by Hungarian police, subjected to torture, and subsequently executed. While many of the other parachutists were captured and killed, some managed to successfully relay valuable intelligence and aid in helping Jews.