The Palestinian Authority’s senior law officer announced on Sunday that a number of senior Palestinian officials had fled abroad to escape prosecution in a series of corruption cases in which more than $700m had been squandered or stolen.

“There are 50 cases of financial and administrative corruption,” Ahmed al-Moghani, PA attorney-general, told a press conference. He said 25 unnamed officials had been arrested and the PA was seeking the extradition of 10 others who had fled.