Football in Gaza: No time-out, despite the roar of Israeli warplanes
Three childhood friends reunite in central Gaza, mustering the strength to return to the football field while lamenting all they have lost in Israel’s ongoing war.
Many displaced Palestinians, now taking refuge in central Gaza, find solace in football despite the persistent risk of Israeli airstrikes. (File Photo: Reuters)
Before the war, 23-year-old Ahmed Hassan was known as a playmaker, someone who could change the course of a football game with his clean dribbling skills.
Like many Palestinians in Gaza, Hassan lost his home to Israeli shelling, forcing him to move between shelters. He was displaced for the third time in June. Now taking refuge in Az-Zawayda, a small town in central Gaza, he organises friendly matches – “to relive the beautiful days” – while Israel hits nearby neighbourhoods with deadly strikes.
His university is a shell of its former self, and a year of his education has vanished.
For Hassan and many others, stepping onto the football field is a distraction from the horrors that surround them.
The matches take place in a school stadium. The boys, most of whom are uprooted by the brutal war, divide themselves into two teams of five. The referee is sometimes an injured player, sometimes an extra player. Hassan’s nine-year-old sibling, Mohammad, nicknamed “Tota,” watches from the sidelines, rooting for his brother.
Ahmed Hassan and his younger brother Mohammad, nicknamed Tota, were displaced three times since October 7 last year. (Photo: Courtesy of Ahmed Hassan)
The players are a mix of local residents and displaced civilians. Among them are two of Hassan’s friends from childhood: Mahmoud Sabra, a 24-year-old midfielder who played for the historic Al-Zaytoun Sports Club; and Mahmoud Kahlout, a 25-year-old right-back defender for Palestine Sporting Club. Kahlout, known for his speed, and Sabra, for his composure under pressure, form a formidable duo on the field. Together with Hassan, they say they have yet to lose a match.
Hassan frequently posts short videos of their matches on social media. In one such video, as his teammates kick the ball on the artificial turf, thick plumes of grey smoke rise from a nearby neighbourhood.
“Two days ago, while we were playing soccer in Az-Zawayda, there was a lot of shelling close by,” Hassan says in the video. “It was really frightening, but we continued playing. Inshallah, this war will end, and we won’t see these scenes again in our lives.”
Mahmoud Kahlout's dream has always been to play for the Palestine national team, nicknamed the Fedayeen. (Courtesy of Mahmoud Kahlout)
Killing of players
Prominent players like Hani Al Masdar and Muhammad Barakat have been killed in the past 10 months. Masdar was a former national team player who had become a mentor to young players. Barakat was one of the greatest Palestinian strikers with 114 goals to his name.
The PFA, in mourning, issued a statement on March 12 that could serve as the epitaph for a generation lost: “The Palestinian sports movement continues to bid farewell to its sons and cadres as a result of long decades of injustice and occupation.”
The killings continued. On May 7, Mahmoud Osama Al-Jazzar, a goalkeeper who had played for Khadamat Rafah Club, was killed in Rafah. His club had just won the Gaza Premier League last season.
Beyond the human toll, the war has left the infrastructure of sport in Gaza in ruins. At least 54 sports facilities have been damaged or destroyed, including the Palestine Stadium, Beit Hanoun Municipal Stadium, Gaza Sports Club, and Al Mila Sporting Club Stadium. Yarmouk Stadium, once a proud symbol of Palestinian endurance, now shelters thousands of displaced families, its field converted into a detention centre where men and children were blindfolded and stripped down to their underwear.
For Hassan and the boys of Az-Zawayda, football is more than a game — it is defiance, a way to reclaim a sliver of joy in a world that seems determined to rob them of it. Yet, the cost of this defiance is steep.
“The targeting of Palestinian sports did not begin last year,” says Khalil Jadallah, a sports commentator from the West Bank. “For decades, the occupation killed and arrested hundreds of athletes, destroyed stadiums, and raided sports headquarters on a recurrent basis.”
Robbed of dreams
Jadallah, a former player himself, fell in love with the game when he was watching the Palestine national team play at the ninth Arab tournament. He recalls seeing the Palestinian flag on the football field – and as a nine-year-old realised that he found his calling when the commentator shouted: Goal for Palestine.
“Football is one means of struggle for Palestinians,” explains Jadallah. “Palestinians play football under the roar of planes, without pausing the game”.
There are about 220 sports clubs in Palestine, including nearly 70 in Gaza. “The national team players are selected from there, but due to the blockade in Gaza and the difficulties at the border crossings, the selection focuses on players from the West Bank,” says Jadallah.
Still, three players from Gaza – Mahmoud Wadi, Muhammad Saleh, and Yasser Hamad – have made it to the national team.
For Jadallah, it was a welcome sight to see eight Palestinians participating in the 2024 Paris Olympics. But he also felt the absence of karate champion Nagham Abu Samra, who lost her right leg in an Israeli air strike and later succumbed to her injuries. Another loss for him was weightlifter Muhammad Hamada, who had become underweight for his category due to Israel’s “starvation policy”, and was unable to participate in the games because of Israel’s travel ban.
Israel has a history of cutting short the future of Palestinian athletes.
In the three-week war of 2008, for instance, 11 Palestinian athletes were killed, while 15 sports facilities were damaged. In 2012, Yarmouk and Palestine Stadium were damaged in Israeli airstrikes. In the offensive of 2014, 16 Palestinian athletes were killed, while over 30 sports facilities were damaged.
Before the war, Mahmoud Sabra dreamed of becoming a professional football player. Now, he just wants to live in peace. (Courtesy of: Mahmoud Sabra)
Football as a mooring
In 2015, Palestinians felt proud as their flag was raised for the first time at a major sporting event: the Asian Nations Championship in Australia. Although Australia did not recognise the State of Palestine, the sight of the flag and Palestinian athletes singing their national anthem inspired hope among many Palestinians.
Hassan, Sabra and Kahlout’s dream has always been to play for the Palestine national team, nicknamed the Fedayeen, “and perhaps from there, a European team,” adds Kahlout.
Late at night, they keep up with their pre-war tradition of going to cafes to watch the important games: the Premier League, Champions League, and presently the Spanish La Liga. Like many Palestinians, their favourite international teams are Real Madrid and Barcelona.
“Other than the Spanish teams, I love Celtic because they support Palestine,” says Kahlout.
In Gaza, where life is measured in fleeting moments of respite between bombings, playing football is a metaphor of sorts, reflecting the Palestinian spirit of rebuilding their lives no matter how many times Israel dismantles them.
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