At about 08:55, some 200 Ottoman cavalry with transport and guns were seen moving north from Beersheba along the road to Jerusalem; shortly afterwards, an aircraft reported seeing a large camp at Tel el Saba. This was the main Ottoman defensive position on the east side of Beersheba, located on the prominent of Tel el Saba and dominating the eastern side of the town. With its steep sides littered by boulders, this flat–topped hill was strongly garrisoned by a battalion (described as 300 rifles and a machine gun company of eight machine guns) deployed for general defence. Without trees or scrub for cover, the area "was swept by the fire of numerous machine guns and field guns concealed in the town ...  on the strongly entrenched hill of Tel el Saba." Enfilade fire from two directions would have annihilated attackers.