(28 Jun 2010) SHOTLIST
Nusseirat camp, Gaza Strip - 28 June 2010
1. Wide of shore, pan across vandalised UN summer camp, with torn tents
2. Various of vandalised camp, torn canopies and tables turned upside down
3. Close up of torn canopy, see in background
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Adnan Abu Hasna, UN spokesman in Gaza:
"It is unacceptable what had been done to that camp and before also. We don't understand why they are doing that. We are servicing the kids here, we are providing fun and games to more than 250-thousand Palestinian kids during the summer here in the Gaza Strip, and now nearly 500 kids are prevented from coming to that camp because of the burning and storming of the place."
4. Various of vandalised camp
5. Top shot of camp and shore
STORYLINE
Two dozen masked men vandalised a UN summer camp for children in Gaza early on Monday, burning and slashing tents, toys and a plastic swimming pool.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the second such attack in a month.
However, Islamic extremists have accused the main UN aid agency here of corrupting Gaza's youth with its summer program of games, sports and human rights lessons for 250,000 children.
The UN'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.
In Monday's attack, about two dozen armed and masked men targeted a seaside camp in central Gaza, one of dozens of UN sites across the 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.
Local UN spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna said the attack was "unacceptable".
"We are providing fun and games to more than 250-thousand Palestinian kids during the summer here in the Gaza Strip, and now nearly 500 kids are prevented from coming to that camp," he said.
Hamas condemned the attack in a statement by the Gaza police, and said investigators were sent to the scene.
UN camps have been targeted by suspected Islamic extremists since their launch in 2007.
Last month, assailants vandalised one of the main camp sites, and last year a Hamas legislator waged a public campaign against the UN summer programme.
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 UN Relief and Works Agency, which provides services for two-thirds of Gaza's 1.5 (m) million people.
The UN avoids contact with Hamas, which is internationally shunned as a "terror group".
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