The battle begun as a result of a border incursion by bedouins. According to some scholars, Shoshenq used these forays as an excuse to launch an invasion to Palestine. Paul Ash suggests that they may have been marauding nomads in the area of the shores of the Bitter Lakes, in present-day Egypt. The pharaoh was followed by his royal scribe Hori, and chariotry, to the battlefield. Not much is known about the actual battle besides the fact that Shoshenq won after surprising the enemy at the shores of Bitter Lakes.