As other Jewish settlements in Arab-controlled areas were subject to massacres, the residents of Kalia grew apprehensive. After the Naharayim power plant, which straddles the Jordan River, had its Jewish employees taken prisoner by the Jordanians, the mistrust grew. Ben-Gurion ultimately ordered Kalia and Beit HaAravah evacuated, and on May 19 and May 20, 1948, hundreds of workers, kibbutz members, and the Palmach security contingent fled on a "fleet" of 17 small boats to the Mount Sodom complex, having sabotaged the factory's equipment to prevent the now enemy from using them. Abdullah's Arab Legion entered the site, which had already been vandalised by locals, on May 22, and completely destroyed both the Potash facilities and the kibbutzim.