They did it last month, too. Details of the earlier attack here. “UN summer camp in Gaza vandalized,” by Ibrahim Barzak for AP, June 28:
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Two dozen masked men vandalized a U.N. summer camp for children in Gaza early Monday, burning and slashing tents, toys and a plastic swimming pool. It was the second such attack in just over a month.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but Islamic extremists have accused the main U.N. aid agency here of corrupting Gaza’s youth with its summer program of games, sports and human rights lessons for 250,000 children.
The U.N.’s main competitor in running summer camps is the ruling Islamic militant Hamas movement, which says it reaches some 100,000 children. The Hamas camps teach Islam and military-style marching, along with swimming and horseback riding.
“The Hamas camps teach Islam”? Did AP just say that? Did they forget that we’re supposed to believe that Hamas teaches a twisted, hijacked version of the Religion of Peaceâ„¢, which is absolutely benign in all its Western manifestations?
In a statement on Monday’s attack, the U.N. said about two dozen armed and masked men targeted a seaside camp in central Gaza, one of dozens of U.N. sites across the Palestinian territory.
The assailants tied up an unarmed guard, then tried to set fire to two tents and a perimeter fence made from tarp-like material. Wielding knives, they slashed a plastic swimming pool, blow-up slide and toys.
Of course, the UN blames Israel:
John Ging, the local U.N. chief, called it a “cowardly and despicable” attack and said the site would be rebuilt quickly.
Hamas police condemned the attack and said it was investigating.
Ging said the attack was the latest sign of growing levels of extremism in Gaza. He said it provides further evidence “of the urgency to change the circumstances on the ground that are generating such extremism.”…
U.N. camps have been targeted by suspected Islamic extremists since their launch in 2007….
In recent months, Hamas has become increasingly assertive in trying to impose its strict version of Islam on everyday life in Gaza.
However, the Islamists have also avoided open confrontation with the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which provides services for two-thirds of Gaza’s 1.5 million people.
The U.N. avoids contact with Hamas, which is internationally shunned as a terror group.
At least for now.