10 Years of Running for Gaza — Record-Breaking Gaza 5K Unites 5,000 in New York City For Refugee Mental Health
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington, DC
October 9, 2025
Saturday: 10 Years of Running for Gaza — Record-Breaking Gaza 5K Unites 5,000 in New York City For Refugee Mental Health
5,000 expected to run or walk in solidarity with displaced Palestine refugees in Gaza
Event raises over $1 million for life-saving mental health care services for Palestine
Two years into Israel’s catastrophic destruction of Gaza, the event embodies remembrance and resistance
WHAT
On Sunday, October 12, 2025, 5,000 walkers and runners will gather at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park for the NYC Gaza 5K — the largest Gaza 5K ever held and the tenth anniversary of the race’s New York debut. First launched in Washington, DC, in 2012 and expanded to New York in 2015, the Gaza 5K has become a nationwide movement for solidarity and healing.
This year’s record-breaking run comes at a time of profound grief: two years into what experts, scholars, and a UN Commission of Inquiry have confirmed as genocide in Gaza, where nearly every person has been displaced and every surviving person bears unimaginable trauma. Coinciding with World Mental Health Day (October 10) and Indigenous Peoples Day (October 13), the event embodies both remembrance and resistance — a collective call for life, dignity, and care amid catastrophic destruction.
WHY
Since October 2023, conservative estimates report at least 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, including 20,000 children. Nearly every resident of Gaza has been displaced, many more than ten times, and 80% of the territory has been damaged or destroyed. Famine has been confirmed and is spreading.
Through it all, UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, has remained on the ground in Gaza. Despite Israeli government-funded propaganda and disinformation campaigns, blockades on aid, and the continued defunding by the United States government, UNRWA remains the largest humanitarian actor on the ground in Gaza, the primary provider of healthcare, and delivering life-saving services in the most dangerous conditions imaginable. No other organization is capable of operating at the scale of UNRWA.
In the past two years alone, UNRWA has delivered:
2 billion liters of clean water
Food assistance for 2 million+ people
10 million healthcare consultations
Shelter for 1 million people in UNRWA facilities
Psychosocial support for 500,000 children
At the heart of this work are UNRWA’s mental health counselors, mostly refugees themselves, who are providing trauma care and emotional support to children and families enduring unthinkable loss. Funds raised through UNRWA USA’s Gaza 5K directly sustain these positions, ensuring that care and hope continue even under siege.
This year, the Gaza 5K community has made history nationwide. In Seattle, 1,700 people turned out for the first-ever Gaza 5K in the Pacific Northwest, raising over $700,000 for mental health programs in Gaza. Just weeks earlier in Washington, DC, 2,000 participants rallied to raise nearly $800,000 to fund UNRWA counselors helping children process unimaginable trauma. The movement now culminates in New York City, where 5,000 more will join to close out a record-breaking year of solidarity runs for Gaza.
The NYC Gaza 5K has become one of the most visible and unifying Palestine solidarity events in the country — drawing families, artists, faith leaders, and activists from every borough, including many Jewish allies and interfaith partners who stand for justice and healing in Gaza.
The closing ceremony will feature dabke dancing with DJ Fatin and a special live performance and song premiere by the Brooklyn Nomads, celebrating a decade of moving for mental health and cultural pride.
WHEN & WHERE
Sunday, October 12, 2025
7 am – Packet pick-up
8:30 am – Opening remarks
9 am – Race kicks off
10 am – Closing ceremony and dabke dancing with DJ Fatin
11:30 am - Event ends
Prospect Park (Nethermead - new location), Brooklyn, New York
Race details are available at gaza5k.org
Competitive awards will be given to the top fundraisers and runners in the following age categories: 1-12, 13-19, 20-39, 40-59, and 60+.
SPEAKERS:
Mara Kronenfeld, Executive Director of UNRWA USA, available for media interviews
Laila Mokhiber, Senior Director of Communications, available for media interviews
Hani Almadhoun, Senior Director of Philanthropy, available for media interviews
The NYC Gaza 5K is open to media, with photo, video, and interview opportunities available on-site. Please email media@unrwausa.org or (202) 223-3767 for more information.
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ABOUT UNRWA USA
UNRWA USA National Committee (UNRWA USA) is an independent nonprofit organization that provides support for the humanitarian work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). UNRWA USA lifts up the voices, experiences, and humanity of Palestine refugees to secure American support for resources essential to every human being, for the promise of a better life. US taxpayers are eligible for tax deductions for donations made through UNRWA USA. UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip and an irreplaceable lifeline for millions of Palestine refugees across the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan.