A Hamas security source said those who attacked the statue were members of the so-called radical Salaf group, which abides by strict religious edicts. ‘The whole issue is under investigation. We do not agree with what happened,’ the Hamas security source said.

The presence of radical Islamist groups in Gaza has grown recently. Some say they follow the lead of Al Qaeda.

The Islamists also ransacked the house of Yasser Arafat, the late Palestinian leader, during a looting spree that followed Hamas’s takeover of the Gaza Strip last week after days of bloody fighting with the secular Fatah faction.

Hamas denied Arafat’s house and belongings had been ‘touched’.

For many Palestinians, the cement statue for the Unknown Soldier has been a symbol of the Arab fight against Israel. It was erected during Egyptian rule in Gaza in the 1950s but was destroyed by Israel. Arafat rebuilt it in the 1990s.

The Gaza City statue stood as memorial to Palestinian and Egyptian soldiers killed in the fight against Israel in the 1948 Middle East war. It is a focal point for officials and ordinary Palestinians, especially during national holidays.

But radical Muslims say statues are sacrilegious because ‘non-believers’ who pre-date Islam used to worship them as idols instead of worshipping God.

Gaza residents have reported at least 50 bombing attacks this year on Internet cafes and vendors of satellite dishes because they say that these violate Islamic morals.