(CNN) -- A U.N.-sponsored summer camp in Gaza was vandalized Thursday morning, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency said.
Officials say a group of masked militants torched a U.N. flag and a stage, and damaged a billboard carrying Finnish, American and Australian flags.
The attack took place just hours before 15,000 local children attending UNRWA Summer Games prepared to smash a Guinness world record for the largest number of people flying kites.
"The igniting is an unacceptable cowardly act and severely harms the image of Gaza," said Adnan Abu Hassan, a legal adviser for the U.N. in Gaza. "We didn't expect this to happen, especially since this is the last day of the summer camp."
Abu Hassan said security was extremely high to ensure the safety of the children. "We have asked the government in Gaza to investigate the matter. Our answer to the attack is to continue the occasion as normal."
"The stage is set for another dramatic piece of world-record mega-theater," UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said in preparation for record-breaking event.
"It will be nothing short of miraculous to achieve this under the punishing, illegal blockade. Three-quarters of a million children are being collectively punished, and there must be transparency and accountability to end this affront to our humanity. The kites will provide another iconic reminder of the beauty and potential of these children, despite the injustices they face," Gunness said in a statement released 24 hours before the attack.
The assault comes just one day after a private Gaza resort was burned down. "Thirty gunmen arrived at my club, burned up rooms, storages, kitchens, chairs and tables, parasols and the cafeterias, an entire destruction. Even the toilet bowls have been smashed," said Imad Al-Wazeer, manager of the Hadaeq Paris country club.
"The resort has been dramatically ruined during the 2009 Israeli operation in Gaza," Al-Wazeer said, but it was reconstructed "in order to show that we are still here and that life is stronger than anything. But now, the place was destroyed by Palestinian hands, and this makes it even more painful. The militants were shouting 'God is great' I don't think God is happy with what they were doing".
Al-Wazeer estimates the damage at $130,000 and says 11 of his employees are now left without an income.
Promises by local police to protect the club after an earlier attack this month were not fulfilled. "When I called the police yesterday, they said will send a team to investigate. But up until now, no one has shown up," he said.
Militants in Gaza set two U.N.-sponsored summer camps on fire in the summer of 2010. Witnesses said the militants involved were Muslim extremists who apparently object to boys and girls going to camp together.
Hamas seized power from the Palestinian Authority in Gaza in 2007.
CNN's Talal Abu Rahma and Marwah Jbara-tibi contributed to this report
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