On 5 May 2011, UNRWA held its first Gaza Marathon, in support of the Summer Games held every summer for 250,000 refugee children in Gaza.
Nine people ran the full 42-kilometre stretch that ends at the southern city of Rafah on the Egyptian border.
Most of the other competitors were schoolchildren in brightly coloured T-shirts, who ran short stretches of the race in a relay format, with more than 1,200 taking part through the morning, each one covering between one and four kilometres.