The documents seized from the Jewish Agency were stored at the King David Hotel . It had been requisitioned by the British for use as a military and government headquarters , although part of it continued to function as a hotel . In order to destroy incriminating documents regarding Jewish Agency and Haganah involvement in the campaign as well as the identities of Haganah members , the Haganah began jointly planning an attack on the King David Hotel with the Irgun . Although the Haganah repeatedly requested that the operation be delayed due to political considerations , the Irgun decided to press ahead and on July 22 , carried out the King David Hotel bombing . Irgun fighters successfully infiltrated the hotel and planted bombs before fleeing under fire . One Irgun fighter was killed and another wounded when the attackers were fired on while retreating . An Irgun telephone warning to evacuate the hotel was not taken seriously , and the hotel had not been evacuated when the bombs exploded . The bombing destroyed much of the southern wing of the hotel , which housed the government secretariat and military headquarters . A total of 91 people were killed : 41 Palestinian Arabs , 28 British nationals including 13 British soldiers , 17 Palestinian Jews , 2 Armenians , 1 Russian , 1 Greek , and 1 Egyptian . Most of the dead were staff of the hotel or Secretariat
King David Hotel bombing
King David Hotel bombing
Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine