Armed men demolished a popular Gaza water park on Sunday. The Crazy Water Park club had earlier been ordered closed by Hamas. The resort park is owned by Ala al-Araj, a former Hamas minister.
Hamas had previously closed the park for several days after a party was held at which men and women mingled. Some sources said the group had also closed Crazy Water Park after women smoked water pipes there, something that was recently banned by law in the region.
The park had most recently been closed for three weeks, allegedly for using water from a local spring to run its water slides without a permit.
Two weeks into the closure, masked men carrying guns burst into the resort, tied up a guard, and set fire to an administrative building and to the three-story building housing the club's main restaurant.
Araj said he holds Hamas responsible for the incident. Hamas is "responsible for the protection of the club they closed,” he said. He termed the attackers “extremists.”
While the attackers have not yet been apprehended, they are suspected to be members of an extremist Salafi Muslim group. Salafi groups in Gaza have repeatedly attacked restaurants, music stores, Internet cafes, and other businesses which they see as detrimental to Islamic values.