Unknown assailants rob two Gaza NGOs

GAZA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Unknown assailants broke into offices of two local and international nongovernmental organizations in the Palestinian coastal Gaza Strip under cover of night and stole cash, local sources said on Sunday.

The attackers stole a small amount of money from the drawers on the employees' desks at the offices of the Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO), said PNGO coordinator Amjad al-Shawa.

In the upper apartment in the same building, the thieves entered the offices of the Cooperative Housing Foundation (CHF) and opened the safe box which was empty of money.

Al-Shawa slammed the break-in as "an aggression on the civil society's work which became very important in Gaza."

Over the past months, several NGOs including two human rights organizations, have been robbed at night, as the deposed Hamas government in Gaza failed to uncover the attackers.

The attackers often break in the organizations without leaving any scene of violence on the doors and have stolen computers in addition to money from al-Dameer Center for Human Rights and the Independent Commission for Human Rights.