Schoolchildren from across the Gaza Strip gathered at Khan Younis stadium late in the afternoon for the first of four world records they will attempt to break in Gaza this summer.
The attempt, comprising 3,520 children playing with 176 parachutes, more than doubled the record set by pupils at Plymstock School in Plymouth, England on April 4, 2006, when 1,547 children played with 58 parachutes.
International witnesses were on hand to count, including two judges in charge of signing the official statement on behalf of Guinness.
Sebastien Trives, UNRWA's deputy director of programs in Gaza, said: "The children of Gaza have shown again that they can be the best in the world. These events raise the spirits and aspirations of the children and give them a real sense of accomplishment and hope. They can achieve special things when given the opportunity."
Each multicolored parachute was carried by 20 children. To aid counting, the stadium was divided into five areas, with each area further split into squares - one for each parachute.
Record-breaker Haitham El Ghoul, 12, said: "We have been training everyday for more than 10 days. I'm so happy with what we have achieved today. And I am most happy because the children of Palestine get another mention in the Guinness Book of World Records.
"I was confident that we would succeed, and feel so proud of our achievement," he said.
"When we were raising the parachute up it felt like we were raising the name of Gaza and Palestine up to the sky," Yumna Jarbou, 14, said.
"This is the first time I ever took part in breaking a world record - and it felt so good."
Yumna's team-mate Shayma Sihweel was equally excited: "I was trying to make the parachute go higher, but at the same time it was very crucial that we all do the exact movement at the exact time," she said. "Our determination to succeed was behind our success today."
In 2009, kids in Gaza broke the record of the most number of kites flown simultaneously, while last year they not only broke their own kites records, but set a new record for the number of basketballs bounced simultaneously.
Their next tilt at world record glory will be on July 14, when more than 2,000 children will set a brand-new record for the highest number of footballs dribbled simultaneously.
To keep up-to-date with all the action from the Summer Games - and find out the result of the remaining world-record attempts, visit Summer Games page at http://www.unrwa.org/summergames or Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/unrwa/
UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) provides assistance, protection and advocacy for some 4.8 million registered Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the occupied Palestinian territory, pending a solution to their plight.
