Its Official! Gaza Children Get World Record For Kite Flying

It's official - the children of the Gaza Strip again hold the Guinness World Record for the most kites flown simultaneously - this time it was 12,350.

The record was broken at an event organised by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency at Al-Waha beach, Gaza Strip, on 28 July last year. I took the first two photos just before taking up my duties as an "observer" responsible for counting the number of kites flying in my assigned sector between the two sirens signifying the start and end point of the official timing.

The count was authenticated by numerous other international observers, many of whom entered Gaza especially for the event. Once we had all made our way back to the stage and handed in our tallies, we watched the count - and were as pleased as the kids when the r esults were announced!

But it was not until today that we heard it had become official. Congratulations, kids of Gaza!!

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Julie Webb-Pullman (click to view previous articles) is a New Zealand based freelance writer who has reported for Scoop since 2003. She has been reporting from Gaza for most of the past year and is one of a handful of Western journalists located in the besieged Palestinian city.

ENDS