?WAFA editor-in-chief Kholoud Assaf (center) with German Representative Christian Clages (right) and Dutch Representative Kees van Baar (left) at WAFA headquarters in Ramallah. (WAFA Images / Huthaifa Srour) 

RAMALLAH, Tuesday, December 11, 2018 (WAFA) – The German Representative to the Palestinian Authority, Christian Clages, and the Dutch Representative, Kees van Baar, visited the office of the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, on Tuesday to learn firsthand about the Israeli army raid of WAFA building the night before.

WAFA editor-in-chief Kholoud Assaf briefed the two European diplomats about the army raid and how the soldiers held the staff in one room and threatened them while using foul language against them as they demanded that photojournalists hand over to the soldiers films of the clashes in the street below and the raid into WAFA building, which they refused to do.

The soldiers then forced the IT personnel to open the room where the servers are located and confiscated tapes of footage from the security cameras installed in the building.

The soldiers, Assaf told the diplomats, fired teargas and stun grenades inside the newsroom where the Arabic, English and French desks are located causing serious suffocation among the reporters and photojournalists in the room.

The German and Dutch diplomats listened to the explanation and asked questions about the entire event seeking minute by minute details of what happened at the news agency on that day.

M.K.