The port of Jaffa had been occupied by the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade on the 16 November, as a result of the victory gained by that brigade and the 1st Light Horse Brigade at the Ayun Kara two days before, but the Ottoman forces were only 3 miles (4.8 km) away across the Auju River (now better known in Arabic as 'Auja River, and in Hebrew as Yarkon River). The closeness of the Ottoman army made the port and town unusable to shipping, still being within range of Ottoman artillery.