Israel has allowed United Nations security personnel in Gaza to arm themselves with four German-made Heckler & Koch submachine guns to fend off terrorists gunning for UNRWA director John Ging.
An Israeli army spokesman said, "Last week the defense establishment authorized UNRWA to take four weapons into Gaza for the protection of John Ging, in addition to the pistols his security already has.”
Gaza now joins Somalia as a place where U.N. officials have to use machine guns to protect personnel.
Ging has escaped injury in at least two previous attacks on him by Gaza terrorists. In March 2007, a masked gunman pumped more than a dozen bullets at his armored car in an assassination attempt. A second attack later in the year killed one person and wounded several others, but Ging was unscathed.
U.N. officials requested the weapons several months ago. UNRWA employs approximately 25,000 people in Gaza, where it maintains schools and facilities for Arabs claiming Israel as their home although they are at best, and not only, descendants of Arabs who left Israel in 1948 hoping to return after an Arab victory over the fledgling state..
Rival Gaza terrorists, trying to take power from Hamas, attacked an UNRWA summer camp site several months ago and left behind several bullets as a warning to Ging.