The head of the Palestinian Higher Council for Youth and Sports, Jibril Rajoub, crowned the winners of the 10th Palestine International Marathon during a ceremony Friday in Bethlehem, as races were held simultaneously in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The ceremony took place at Manger Square in central Bethlehem in the presence of local and security officials, participants and residents.
The marathon, held under the slogan “We run for freedom,” began early Friday near the Church of the Nativity with the participation of Palestinian and international runners after a two-year suspension because of the Israeli genocide in Gaza and escalating violence in the West Bank.
I Samer al-Joulani from Jerusalem won first place in the race covering 42.195 kilometers (26.219 miles), followed by Mohammed Tawfiq al-Assi from the Dheisheh refugee camp in southern Bethlehem and Ahmad Taha from Ramallah in third.
In the half-marathon, spanning 21 kilometers, Louay al-Bosta from Jordan finished first, followed by Hamza Amer from Kafr Qasim inside Israel and Ahmad Wreidat from the town of Dhahiriya in southern Hebron.
In the women’s 21-kilometer race, Bayan Osama from Kafr Qara won first place, while Reem Ali, who lives in the US, finished second and Heba Attallah, who lives in Canada, placed third.
The race route stretched from Manger Square past the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque and the Israeli separation wall toward the Aida refugee camp north of Bethlehem, then along the Jerusalem-Hebron Road, through the Dheisheh refugee camp and the old town of al-Khader before ending at Solomon’s Pools south of Bethlehem.
The race is organized by the Palestinian Higher Council for Youth and Sports, the Palestinian Olympic Committee and the Bethlehem Municipality.
Gaza marathon
In Gaza, a parallel marathon was held starting from the Wadi Gaza bridge, west of the Nuseirat refugee camp, and heading north along the coastal road for 5 kilometers.
According to Palestinian organizers, about 2,523 runners from various age groups participated in the race, which ended near al-Baydar Hall south of Gaza City.
Yahya al-Khatib, director general of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports in Gaza, described the race as “a national day in every sense” that embodied “the unity of the homeland and the Palestinian decision.”
He told Anadolu that the 10th edition stood out because of the participation of children, women, youth, elderly people and people with disabilities.
He said the marathon represented an important part of Gaza’s recovery process after two years of genocide by Israel.
Al-Khatib noted that it was the first time the marathon had been organized inside Gaza, although runners from the enclave had previously participated in Bethlehem editions.
“This year carries a different positive character,” he said. “The marathon carried the slogan: ‘We run for Gaza.’ The starting gun was fired on the Gaza seashore while runners also ran in Bethlehem. That was the core message.”
Although organizers did not publish an official list of winners in the Gaza race, the event drew strong participation and competition.
Runner Khalil al-Tarabin, a member of the Palestinian national athletics team, expressed hope that the marathon would become an annual event in Gaza and wished for an end to the Israeli genocide.
Another participant, Mustafa Jabr, said the race represented “a message of challenge and restoring hope” for Palestinians after being held in areas that had witnessed Israeli attacks during the two years of war.
The marathon’s return was a sign of Palestinians’ determination to continue life despite the devastation of war and Israeli restrictions affecting sports and social development.
Violence has escalated across the occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, including killings, arrests, demolitions and settlement expansion.
According to Palestinian figures, at least 1,155 Palestinians have since been killed, 11,750 wounded, and nearly 22,000 arrested in the West Bank.
In Gaza, the war has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians and wounded over 172,000, while hostilities continue in different forms despite a ceasefire that took effect Oct. 10, 2025.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul
