More than 1 400 Palestinians were up before dawn on Thursday to take part in the Gaza Strip's first-ever marathon which runs the entire length of the coastal enclave.
As the sun rose, around 50 runners gathered at the start line at the entrance to Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip, bouncing nervously as they waited for the starting whistle.
Just nine people are running the full 42-kilometre stretch that ends at the southern city of Rafah on the Egyptian border.
The other competitors were school children in brightly-coloured T-shirts who are running short stretches of the race in a relay format, with over 1 200 due to take part take place throughout the morning, each one covering between one and four kilometres.
Half way through, another six Palestinians will begin the 13.1 km half marathon and towards the end, 150 runners from the Gaza Athletics Federation will join in for the last eight kilometre stretch.
Organised by UNRWA, the runners have collectively raised more than $1 million in sponsorship which will go towards the Palestinian refugee agency's Summer Games programme held every year in the Hamas-run territory, spokesman Chris Gunness said.
Favourite to win the race is Palestinian athlete Nader al-Masri, a 31-year-old Gazan from Beit Hanun who entered the 5 000 metres at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and who is hoping to enter the 2012 Games in London.
"This is a very happy day for me because it is the first-ever marathon in Gaza," Masri said, saying he hoped to complete the course in two hours 30 minutes.
There are just two international participants -- French national Sebastien Trives, who is deputy director of UNRWA's Gaza operations, and and his colleague Gemma Connell, an Australian who organised the event.
Both are first-time marathon runners.
"This is a very important day for Gaza. It's a message for freedom," Trives said.
"The marathon is the maximum length you can run in Gaza but they hope one day to be able to run further," he said of the territory which is exactly 42 kilometres in length and has been under an Israeli blockade since 2006.
"I'm incredibly excited and buoyed by the enthusiasm of all the Palestinians who have been involved," said Connell, 28. "It is very exciting to be here for it. I just hope I can make it to the end!"
The Hamas-run security forces will provide security for the entire event, which is taking place just three weeks after the kidnap and murder of Italian peace activist Vittorio Arrigoni by radical Islamist militants.
"We've been working with the local authorities to make sure the route is secure," Gunness said. "They are providing full security all along the route."
It was not immediately clear how the race would play out logistically with both male and female runners expected to participate -- an issue which has in marred previous events organised by UNRWA.
Last year, masked gunmen set fire to two UN summer camps, apparently angered over the fact they let girls and boys mingle freely.
As the sun rose, around 50 runners gathered at the start line at the entrance to Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip, bouncing nervously as they waited for the starting whistle.
Just nine people are running the full 42-kilometre stretch that ends at the southern city of Rafah on the Egyptian border.
The other competitors were school children in brightly-coloured T-shirts who are running short stretches of the race in a relay format, with over 1 200 due to take part take place throughout the morning, each one covering between one and four kilometres.
Half way through, another six Palestinians will begin the 13.1 km half marathon and towards the end, 150 runners from the Gaza Athletics Federation will join in for the last eight kilometre stretch.
Organised by UNRWA, the runners have collectively raised more than $1 million in sponsorship which will go towards the Palestinian refugee agency's Summer Games programme held every year in the Hamas-run territory, spokesman Chris Gunness said.
Favourite to win the race is Palestinian athlete Nader al-Masri, a 31-year-old Gazan from Beit Hanun who entered the 5 000 metres at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and who is hoping to enter the 2012 Games in London.
"This is a very happy day for me because it is the first-ever marathon in Gaza," Masri said, saying he hoped to complete the course in two hours 30 minutes.
There are just two international participants -- French national Sebastien Trives, who is deputy director of UNRWA's Gaza operations, and and his colleague Gemma Connell, an Australian who organised the event.
Both are first-time marathon runners.
"This is a very important day for Gaza. It's a message for freedom," Trives said.
"The marathon is the maximum length you can run in Gaza but they hope one day to be able to run further," he said of the territory which is exactly 42 kilometres in length and has been under an Israeli blockade since 2006.
"I'm incredibly excited and buoyed by the enthusiasm of all the Palestinians who have been involved," said Connell, 28. "It is very exciting to be here for it. I just hope I can make it to the end!"
The Hamas-run security forces will provide security for the entire event, which is taking place just three weeks after the kidnap and murder of Italian peace activist Vittorio Arrigoni by radical Islamist militants.
"We've been working with the local authorities to make sure the route is secure," Gunness said. "They are providing full security all along the route."
It was not immediately clear how the race would play out logistically with both male and female runners expected to participate -- an issue which has in marred previous events organised by UNRWA.
Last year, masked gunmen set fire to two UN summer camps, apparently angered over the fact they let girls and boys mingle freely.
