Marathon held in the Gaza Strip to mark International Day of Disabled Persons

The besieged coastal enclave held on Thursday a running marathon for people with physical disabilities, marking the International Day of Disabled Persons. 

The marathon was organised by the Gaza-based Rehabilitation and Social Training Association and included about 30 participants, from 15 to 50 years old. 

The participants, who used their medical crutches, raced along the main street of the Nuseirat refugee camp in the centre of the Gaza Strip, surrounded by an enthusiastic atmosphere.

Kamal Abu Shawish, director of the institution organising the event, said to The New Arab that  "the marathon aims to highlight the cause of disabled people and their rights."

"We were keen to invest this day in every way to highlight the issues of persons with disabilities and to confirm their presence and abilities to integrate into society," he added. 

Mohammed Aqil, a Gaza-based participant, who lost his right leg during an Israeli strike hit his house in the 2014 war, said to TNA that he joined the marathon event to spotlight the rights of people like himself in Gaza. 

"We need to increase the community's awareness about the rights of disabled people and reduce the obstacles that prevent them from accessing the services provided by official, civil and private institutions," he said.

Mansour Obeid, another Gaza-based participant with a physical disability, told TNA that disabled people suffer from a lack of work opportunities despite most of them carrying university certifications. 

"Unfortunately, the local authorities in Gaza and the West Bank deal with us as people who need money only, while the fact is that we need to live as normal as other ordinary people," the 36-year-old father of two said. 

According to statistics issued by the Gaza-based Rehabilitation and Social Training Association, a Palestinian civil organization concerned with people with disabilities, there are an estimated 48,000 people to have disabilities involving their extremities currently living in the Gaza Strip, representing about 2.4 per cent of the total local population.