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Al-Muqataa Besieged 15 Fled Through Underground Tunnels
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| The demolished fortress-like Muqataa building housed administrative and security offices.
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Additional Reporting By Awad Al-Rajoub, IOL Palestine Correspondent
ALKHALIL (Hebron), June 30 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Amidst international silence regarding the Israeli demolition Saturday, June 29, of the Muqataa building in the West Bank city of Al-Khalil, Palestinian officials denied Israeli claims that 15 Palestinian resistance fighters are buried under the rubble.
Israeli newspaper, Yediot Aharanot, reported that the trapped Palestinians managed to escape to nearby villages through underground tunnels.
Israeli troops were searching Saturday for the bodies of 15 Palestinians believed killed when the army used tons of explosives to destroy the historic Palestinian Authority headquarters building in the West Bank.
The sprawling three-storey building, which housed administrative and security offices, had been under siege since Tuesday, June 25, when the occupation army seized Al-Khalil, the latest of seven West Bank cities occupied in its current military offensive. The only West Bank town left untouched is Jericho.
Abdul-Fatah Al-Jaidi, commander general commander of Al-Khalil told IslamOnline there are no martyrs in the building. He was in constant contact with the residents in the area who assured him that there was no combat inside the Al-Muqataa which indicates that there was no one inside it.
He added that the aim of the Israeli offensive was to destroy the only headquarters for the Palestinian Authority which has remained without destruction in the West Bank in order to distract the Palestinian security forces. He said those who were inside may have fled at the beginning of the Israeli occupation.
“Usually, whenever there were Palestinians under siege, the Israelis would call the Palestinians to attempt to solve the problem before any shelling or to at least warn them. But in Al-Khalil, they immediately started shelling Al-Muqataa from the moment they entered, which means that the destruction of the building was premeditated,” he said.
The head of the preventive security in Al-Khalil, Majid Farag, said that he believes there was no one inside the Muqataa building at the time of its destruction. “The Israeli story of the killing of 15 Palestinians is inaccurate,” he told IslamOnline, adding that “the Palestinian security forces have not been informed of any missing person.”
On its Arabic site, Yediot Aharanot quoted Palestinian sources as saying that the Palestinians were able to flee through underground tunnels which lead to nearby villages. The sources said that the fleeing of the Palestinians is a sign of failure of the Israeli army as they fled from “under their noses”.
The Al-Muqataa building is of great historical value. The fortress-like structure dates back to 1930 during the British mandate of Palestine.
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