Idyllic days at summer camp usually involve kickball, arts and crafts and some smooth sailing on a placid mountain lake.
But when the camp is run by Hamas, kids also have to make time to learn the finer points of kidnapping.
Palestinian children in Gaza are being indoctrinated at Hamas summer camps, where they have re-enacted the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit — all while top Hamas officials look happily on, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Young campers put on a show acting out the taking of Schalit in the presence of the senior Hamas official who is leading negotiations with Israel over the soldier's release, according to the paper. Schalit was snatched in a cross-border raid in June 2006 and is still being held hostage by Hamas.
"This is Hamas's way of showing Palestinian children that kidnapping soldiers is the correct way of life," an Israeli defense official told the Post. Pictures obtained by the paper show children undergoing semi-military training with toy guns.
Israeli officials say that more than 120,000 Palestinian children are spending the summer in Hamas-run camps, training-grounds for the militant group recognized as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and EU.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox