Archival Gaza Footage Shows Palestinian Children Breaking World Kite-Flying Record
August 31, 2026
REMEMBERING THE HUMANITY THEY TRIED TO ERASE.
MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin (@aymanmhn ) shared archival footage from his time reporting in Gaza, recalling the day thousands of Palestinian children gathered on the beach to break the Guinness World Record for flying the most kites simultaneously.
As Mohyeldin notes, this moment of pure joy and world-record triumph stands in stark contrast to the relentless efforts by Western media and political institutions to reduce Palestinians to mere statistics, policy headlines, or targets.
There is a concerted effort to reduce Palestinians to numbers so the world turns a blind eye when their lives are stolen.
These kites were not weapons, they were simple toys handmade by children seeking a moment of peace and joy.
How many of those children are still alive today?
Behind every headline was a child who dreamed, laughed, played, and believed the sky belonged to them.
THEY ARE NOT STATISTICS. THEY ARE HUMAN.
They are children who flew kites.
Parents who built families.
People who dreamed of ordinary lives.
This is the Gaza the world rarely remembers.
Video via @aymanmhn
#GazaArchives #fyp #FreePalestine #BDS #StopArmingIsrael
English Script:
Reporter: In a few seconds actually, they’re going to be blowing a whistle and the kites will essentially begin to fly. I’m going to step out of the way. You can hear the countdown, actually, beginning now, the aim here is to get about 5000 kites up in the air. The current record is about 710. That was set in January 2008. And so right now, organizers believe they have the number needed to actually shatter that record, the purpose or the way they’re counting it. There are about 119 UNRWA schools in the Gaza Strip. And each one of these schools has been given a designated area for the students. And through that, they’re able to count the number of mice that will be flying. The International Committee of the Red Cross is actually acting as an independent, I guess, adjudicator. They’re here to verify the number of kites that will be in the air, obviously, to make sure that it is in compliance with the Guinness World Book of Record standards. So it’s certainly a very big goal. But I organize who’s here, and believe they have the number needed. Anchor: Aymen, it looks to be quite spectacular seeing all those kites flying above you. And I understand that, it is part of a program of activities for children over the summer. Reporter: It’s true. This is part of the United Nations Relief Work Agency summer program, a very important program for the children of Gaza. The population of Gaza is 1.5 million. Half of those are children under the age of 18. Every summer, UNRWA organizes this summer program with about 200,000 students. This year, the number of those enrolled was about 240,000. It’s very important in the life of many of these children who really struggle in the day-to-day realities of living life under siege. The education system here suffers quite a lot. And so its programs, such as the summer program by UNRWA, play a very important role for many of these children. And that is not lost on the organizers here who say that the event today is not just about breaking a world record, but really it is about making the children of Gaza believe that despite the odds that they face on a daily basis, they too can be the best that whatever it is that they want, including kite flying on this particular day.
