Gaza

More than 6,200 children attending a summer camp in the Gaza Strip run by the United Nations agency assisting Palestinian refugees have broken their own world record for the number of kites flown at the same time.

The feat comes exactly one week after more than 7,200 children bounced basketballs simultaneously for five minutes, doubling a 2007 record set in the United States.

More than 7,200 children in Gaza today simultaneously bounced basketballs, putting them on track to set their second world record in as many years, as part of an annual summer sporting event organized by the United Nations agency assisting Palestinian refugees.

Today’s record of 7,203 balls dribbled more than doubles the previous record set in 2007 in the United States, where just over 3,000 balls were bounced.

The High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union and First-Vice-President of the European Commission Baroness Ashton visits Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children and holds a meeting with representatives of the civil society and private sector in the main hall of the organization.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the head of United Nations relief operations in Gaza have deplored this morning’s attack on a recreational facility used by children in the territory, the second such incident in a month.
A group of about 25 armed and masked men attacked and set fire to the facility on the beach in Nuseirat that was being used to host the Summer Games, run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

A top United Nations official today stressed the need for a fundamental change in the situation in Gaza, noting that the recent tragedy involving an aid flotilla intercepted by Israel is just another reminder of why the blockade of the Strip is unsustainable and must end.

“The flotilla crisis is the latest symptom of a failed policy,” Robert Serry, the Special Coordination for the Middle East Peace Process, told the Security Council in an open briefing. “The closure and blockade of the Gaza Strip needs to come to an end.”

The economic situation in the occupied Palestinian territory has seen some improvement but remains precarious, particularly in the Gaza Strip, where the continued Israeli blockade undermines prospects for employment and growth, says a new United Nations report.
The International Labour Organization (ILO), in its annual publication on the situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories, attributes the improvement to an accelerated growth rate and a slightly higher rate of employment – roughly 15 per cent in both Gaza and the West Bank.