It was during the genocidal war on Gaza
that my colleague, sports journalist, Nelly Al-Masri, interviewed some of the
best-known professional Palestinian athletes. This was a heroic action by
her, especially when the war was still ongoing at the time she took this
action. Furthermore, a number of people, including athletes, were suffering
under the starvation, destruction of infrastructure, and the
suffering that they were going through. In response to her decision, I
encouraged her to take this action, and I offered to translate the interviews
into English to expose the brutality of the Israeli forces to the world, and to
let the world know about the suffering Palestinian athletes are experiencing.
The majority of these players were members
and players of social athletic clubs in Gaza where they competed. It’s worth
noting that from the early 1950s, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees (UNRWA) also established service centers in Jabaliya, Rafah, Khan
Yunis, al-Shati’, al-Nusayrat, al-Burayj, and al-Maghazi, which became clubs
with their own teams, participating in local and Arab championships and playing
a leading role in the development of sports in the Strip.
Since
October 2023, athletes and sports infrastructure have been impacted by the
genocidal assault that Israel has inflicted Gaza’s people and its built
environment. In addition to the athletes and coaches who have been killed,
sports clubs and arenas have been destroyed, and stadiums used for mass arrests
and mass graves. Over 570 martyrs from the
sports and scouting movements have been killed since the war began in October
2023.
There
are hundreds of examples of the brutality of the occupation directed toward
athletes. The martyrdom and torture of athletes Frayj al-Hallaq, a veteran
athlete and Alzheimer’s patient, was executed by Israeli occupation forces, who
left him to bleed to death in front of al-Shifa Hospital. Nagham Abu Samra, a
Palestinian karate champion and member of the Palestinian national team, was also
martyred in the bombing of her home in al-Nusayrat camp: she succumbed to
wounds sustained from shrapnel that put her in a coma. Long-distance runner and
athletic coach Majed Abu Maraheel, who in 1996 became the first Palestinian to
compete in the Olympic Games, died of kidney failure in Gaza, unable to receive
treatment as a result of the siege and destruction of the Gazan health system.
In addition to clubs, the headquarters of the
Palestinian Olympic Committee, the Palestinian Football Association, and the
Supreme Council for Youth and Sports have been demolished, as have many
stadiums. According to the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, the most
notable stadiums destroyed in northern Gaza and Gaza City are Palestine
Stadium, Yarmuk Stadium (built in 1951), Bayt Hanun Municipal Stadium, Bayt
Lahiya Stadium, and the Gaza Sports Club. Israel also bombed the United Nations
Development Program Stadium in Rafah, and the Khan Yunis Municipal Stadium and
Sports City have also been destroyed. The al-Nusayrat Municipal Stadium and the
baseball and softball stadium in al-Shati’ Camp were similarly destroyed.
Like
millions of others of Palestinians in Gaza, athletes have also been subject to
the loss of livelihoods and homes. This war of extermination brought about a
complete cessation and paralysis of sports activities. More than six thousand
players, coaches, and sports cadres have lost their only source of income. They
rely on humanitarian aid and cannot afford food and medicine for their
families. Players, coaches and club cadres have also been denied the
opportunity to represent Palestine in recent Arab and international
championships due to the war.
Issam
Khalidi
The Genocide Holds Palestinian Professional Sports Hostage
By Nelly Al-Masri
"I dug a grave and buried him with my
own hands". Ghassan Abu Odeh, 27 years old and a football player for the
Ittihad Al-Shuja'iyya Club in Gaza City, has given a painful testimony about
the suffering he has experienced. The player for the Palestine national
football team and Ahli Beit Hanoun Sports Club, Rashid Dabour, was martyred on
October 11, 2023, along with his wife's family. Because his house was so close
to the border in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, he was forced to move
to Al-Nasr west of Gaza City. The house is located about six kilometers from
the Sderot settlement located in the lands that were seized by the Israelis in
1948. Since the raids intensified, he was buried in Beit Lahia, north of
Jabalia, near Beit Hanoun and the armistice line with Israel that marked the
end of the war in 1949.
Abu Odeh spreads
out his hands and stares at them like they still have the traces of burial:
"I never imagined digging a grave to bury my friend. It was one of the
hardest things I've ever been through in my life. When we played at my family's
club in Beit Hanoun, he was always there like my shadow. We had some great
times together. We were always together, however, now he is departed forever.”
He looked pale
and sad. "The loss is extremely painful. In addition to Rashid, I lost
friends whose friendship meant a lot to me. There were international players
like Mohamed Barakat, Mohamed Al-Malfouh, Tarek Al-Kafarna, Ahmed Abu Al-Ata,
and my uncle who was very close to me, as well as others who were martyred
during the extermination war in Gaza,” said Abu Odeh.
In the past few
years, Abu Odeh, who plays offense, has developed into a star in the league. He
played for Ahli Beit Hanoun Club before it was promoted to the Premier League
in the 2017-2018 season. He then competed with the Jabalia Youth Team, but was
unable to complete the season with them. His next move was to Ittihad Beit
Hanoun Sports Club, which at the time was still in the second division, which
he was very much enjoying. Later, he was promoted with this club to the first
division, and then to the Premier League as well. As well as that, he also
played for Al-Ahli Palestine in the first half of the 2017-2018 season before
joining the Khadamat Al-Shatea Team in the second half and finally joining
Ittihad Al-Shuja’iyya until October 7, 2023. In terms of his speed and ability
to score goals with a header, Abu Odeh is considered one of the most
distinctive attackers in the league. As a result, many clubs in the Gaza Strip
took notice of him and made him a target for them.
The Premier
League football championship in the Gaza Strip reached the seventh round when
the Israeli occupation launched a war on Gaza. In those days, Ittihad
Al-Shuja'iyya was leading and chasing the championship title. War devoured
everything, so Premier League matches in Gaza were suspended.
He explains that, since the first week of the
tournament, the competition for my team has been very strong, and the league
has been very strong, and we were aiming to win the championship. The Palestine
Cup Championship was also on our minds. In my opinion, this was vital for many
reasons, including the fact that the Shuja'iyya team competed a lot, but was
not able to win the championship title despite their hard work and dedication.
It was harvest season this year. At the same time, we made it to the
semi-finals of the Cup Championship. I reached the best stage in my football
career with Al-Shuja'iyya Union, who led the Premier League. I'd have been in a
transitional period if I played professionally abroad and for the Palestinian
team. Continuing with a sigh, he added: "The war took everything from us:
our dreams, our sports, our homes, our lives, our future, our friends, but
God's will is binding," said Abu Odeh.
Ghassan Abu Odeh lives in Beit Hanoun city near the border of the Gaza Strip on the eastern
border of Beit Hanoun. After the occupation launched the war on October 7,
2023, he and his family had to flee in the first hours of the bombing. They
hoped to return home in a few days. Abu Odeh says: "I
didn't expect the bombing to be so brutal. Immediately, I made my way to my
grandfather's house in Beit Hanoun with my family, expecting to be able to
return after a few days. However, it became clear that displacement is a bitter
story that I lived and that Palestinian citizens live throughout the Gaza
Strip. We only stayed at my grandfather’s house for one night. As a result of
the bombing, the situation was terrifying."
" In Jabalia Camp, we were directed to the
Awni al-Harthani School, but the occupation gave citizens a time period between
9:00 am and 4:00 pm to leave the area. It was on October 12 that we made the
decision to leave Jabalia Camp and head to the southern part of the Gaza
Strip," he added. No longer was the area safe. Several houses near the
school were bombed, but something unexpected happened. There we stood in the
street, waiting for a taxi to take us south. We stayed for a long time without
any vain. We couldn't find any transport means. Having returned disappointed
from our trip, we decided to head to another nearby school where we would spend
the night, and we moved south the next morning. We moved early the next morning
to the south. We weren't sure where we were headed. We were on a road that was
terrifying. There was a bombing attack by warplanes on the houses. Many
massacres took place against innocent people at the same time. The people
carried their belongings, displaced and without a clue as to where they would
go."
As he continued,
"My family and I were in the same car. We had a very horrible feeling that
we might all die at any moment due to circumstances beyond our control, but
what happened was that we ended up in one of the schools in the Deir al-Balah
camp, as we had been displaced from the coastal road to the beach.” Abu Odeh
recounts those moments after he and his family had settled in the school as
refugees. "During
that particular moment, the first thing that came to mind was the match that I
was preparing for against the Al-Hilal team. In this match, I would have had a
big role to play, but what happened was way beyond my expectations. Everything
was left behind. The medals and souvenirs from the sporting events couldn't be
taken with me. Everything was lost.”
Until the sixth
week of the tournament, Ghassan competed for the title of the top scorer of the
league, scoring five goals during the tournament. Before the war, he was the
last player to score a goal. As of today, he still believes that this was one
of the most memorable stages of his football career. The explanation he gave is
as follows: "I made five goals in six games, and I was a substitute in
three games." During the game he referenced, his team, Ittihad Al-Shuja'iyya,
tied with his former team, Ittihad Beit Hanoun Sports Club. "I was a substitute in that match and
scored the winning goal. I was playing for the first time ever and it was my
most memorable day ever."
Regarding
displacement, he describes it as loss and bewilderment, with no decent life or
even the simplest of rights: "Displacement is a very difficult experience.
When I wake up from sleep, I am not in my own home, I am not with my family, I
am not with my friends, and I am not in my own life. A lot of things are lost
every single day, even food, drink and privacy to name a few. As we are on the
threshold of winter, the conditions were almost unsuitable, as in terms of
material means, we were at the very bottom of the scale. In spite of the fact
that we did not have blankets and clothing, we were forced to be patient,
regardless of ourselves, in order to survive. After that, I moved as a
displaced person between Rafah in the south and Deir al-Balah in the middle as
a displaced person. It was time to check on my sister and my displaced relatives."
As a result of a
year-long genocide, Ghassan Abu Odeh did not surrender to the harsh
circumstances, despite the harshness of their conditions. He attempted to
overcome these difficulties as much as he could in order to remain in a
psychologically healthy and fit state as a player. "For me, these
circumstances did not weaken me, but increased my strength. I considered myself
injured with a cruciate ligament and qualified to recover from it, to return
with strength, because if I waited for the war to end and for the situation in
Gaza to stabilize and for matches to resume, my return to the stadiums would be
difficult, because I will be too old to go to the stadiums once the war is
over. It won't be in my interest to play in this stadium anymore."
"I was constantly training at sea, and I had a strong interest in
swimming, in order to keep my physical level and fitness high. When it comes to
nutrition as a football player, it's normal. In markets, you can't find food,
and if you do, it's very expensive. I have only canned food to eat, but I have
overcome that with whatever I have available." After a year and
three months of the genocide, Abu Odeh still held hope despite the severity of
the situation, and wondered in shock: “Is it possible that I am like a football
player at the height of his glory, now in a shelter center inhabited by 26
thousand displaced people, and I have to wait until I can enter the bathroom,
and I have to wait for my turn to bring water and other items.” In his words,
"there are no components of life. As a great player, I never had any
thoughts of losing my dream, because a great player never gives up hope, and
they have a lot of determination, and I am sure that everything has an end, and
the most important thing is to come back stronger than that time, and I have
therefore reached football maturity at this point."
During the Gaza
war, he believes that there were players who left Gaza and played
professionally in Libya, Egypt and other countries, escaping the war of
extermination. After the destruction of stadiums and clubs, they sought a
better future for themselves in football, and they deserve the chance to play
professionally in the future. It is his hope that they will have a successful
future in football and that they will represent Palestine in the best possible
way. A few of them are Muhammad Balah, Badr Musa, Tariq Abu Ghanima, Tawfiq
Al-Bayk, Khaled Daher and many others. "It
is a glimmer of hope that I might have a chance to play professionally abroad in
the future. "
Abu Odeh is
waiting for the war to end and the Rafah crossing to open. His dream of playing
professionally abroad will now is within reach, which will give him the
opportunity to travel and achieve his dream: "I will not back down from my
ambition. I will travel and have new experiences. I believe in my abilities and
capabilities. The last time I scored a goal was before the Gaza war in October
2023. I was the top scorer in the league before the Gaza war in October 2023.
All the coaches and my fellow players praised my technical skills, so I will
work harder.”
International humanitarian law provides
protection to internally displaced persons as civilians who are entitled to
legal protection under international humanitarian law, as they are protected by
the rules of protection established for the benefit of the civilian population
and under the principle of distinction between civilians and combatants, which
forbids the attack of civilians who are not involved in hostilities in any way.
In accordance with the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1994, the
Two Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions of 1977, as well as the
rules of customary humanitarian law, the conflicting parties are obliged to
protect and preserve their lives. In order for the conflicting parties to avoid
situations that may result in the displacement of civilians, these laws must be
based on the principles of customary humanitarian law, which serve as a basic
source of this law.
Mahmoud Silmi: The Journey from Dignified life to "a Refugee in a Tent"
By
Nelly Masri
“My heart was ripped
open the first time I stepped onto the field, and I felt a great deal of pain
in my chest. The event was completely unknown to me at that point in time. I
felt like I was still wearing my club's shirt, and I celebrated my goal with my
fans. However, I didn't hear any players anymore because of the noise and the
tents and gazebos. The stands became a laundry hangout. It was then that the
war slapped me in the face, and I awoke to a scene that was painful to see in
front of me.”
Mahmoud
Silmi (27 years old), a Palestinian football star, is married and has two
daughters. Celine was born during the war, while Sela is two years older than
her. He entered the stadium as a refugee. The scene that took place in front of
him was a nightmare that haunted all of his big dreams, especially after he
shone in the stadium sky like a star.
He
says: “I had to leave my home in Gaza City's Shujaiya neighborhood because of
the war. I didn't imagine moving to the place where I lived my most beautiful
moments. I scored goals here and celebrated with fans. Every time I enter it; I
feel distress and suffering. In the middle of Gaza Strip, the Martyr Muhammad
Al-Durrah Stadium always saw football stars scoring goals and celebrating
amidst cheering crowds. Suddenly, it became a refuge for displaced people. It's
after the Israeli occupation has been bombing Gaza since October 7th. There was
silence in the stands and throats fell. The fans disappeared, football life and
victories ended, and the displaced people forced to leave their homes took
refuge in this stadium to face the harshest conditions of life grew louder as
well.”
Silmi
played for Al-Ahly of Egypt in 2018, but he didn't last long. After moving to Shabab Al-Aqaba Club in Jordan, he
returned to Ittihad Al-Shujaia and finished runner-up in the Palestinian League
3 times. Ittihad Beit Hanoun Club suffered the same fate all Gaza clubs did:
bulldozing and destruction of Gaza Strip clubs, as well as the martyrdom of
Muhammad al-Titri and Hussam Junaid, among many of his player friends.
“My
family and I were displaced for the sixth time between Gaza City and the
Central Governorate. In the end, I settled on Al-Durrah Stadium. My first
concern was getting a tent for my family. To keep my kids warm and safe during
winter, I provided a tent and some simple things.”
In these
conditions, all he cared about was making sure his girls were safe. The fall of
shells and missiles was terrifying. He did everything he could to make them
feel safe. In order to keep the kids happy, he changed the atmosphere of his
tent. He tried to prepare the tent to reduce the heat as the summer heat
intensified.
“My attempts were not as successful as I
expected, since all the circumstances are beyond my control. Now I'm thinking
about traveling outside Gaza to find a future for us and some stability and
security. I tried repeatedly to cope with this tough situation.”
"I used to
wake up early and do individual exercises to stay fit before the war, and then
I'd go home and finish my day with my family and go to the club." But now I
wake up early to look for clean water, if available, filling gallons, providing
food and drink, and a whole bunch more that I can't explain here.”
Even though Silmi
has a hard time with his family, he doesn't hesitate to personally help
displaced families in need. Particularly because of their similar circumstances
and suffering, he provides tents, sets them up, and supplies some stuff, "and
because I'm an athlete, I feel what they feel and no one remembers them", said Silmi.
Silmi posted two
photos on Facebook, one in the Egyptian Al-Ahly shirt before the war and one
now. "There is no club to sign with. The value of any signed contract is
letting me out of this."
Hope Lies in Ruins
By Nelly Masri
He took a pile of rubble and sat on it, as
if he had fallen from a great height and hit the ground from the weight of what
had happened to him. He repeated, "I lost a three-story house, I worked
for more than thirty years to build it, and as soon as I became independent of
my family, my house was bombed and razed to the ground. It was Saeb Jundiyeh,
the former captain of the Palestinian national team. His shock was heightened
when he saw the rubble of his own home, which he came to inspect. It was only after
the ceasefire in Gaza was signed, and after he had been displaced for a year
and three months that he was able to find what remained of his memories: the
Palestinian national team shirt buried among piles of stones.
Jundiyeh lives in
the Shuja'iyya neighborhood east of Gaza City, close to the border of the Gaza
Strip on the eastern side. During the genocidal war against the Gaza Strip,
this area was frequently bombed and destroyed by Israeli forces.
"On October 7, 2023, I was surprised by
the continuous and non-stop bombing. I was still standing in my house when
shells struck, and smoke filled the entire house. My family including my mother
left immediately our house to my grandfather's house near the Palestine
Stadium, which is west of Gaza City. I stayed in the house until ten in the
morning in order to follow up on the situation. If it was possible, I would
stay and return to the family, but it was only a matter of minutes. There became
a very difficult situation in the area and many martyrs fell, and I had to
leave my home as a result. It was with my brothers and me that we went to
Al-Shifa Hospital to check on the injured members of our family and then we
stayed at my grandfather's house for a short while. However, as the shelling
intensified, I was forced to flee and head south to save myself."
As a member of
the selection department of the Palestinian Football Association for the
southern governorates, Saeb Jundiyeh supervised the age groups of the Olympic,
youth, and junior teams under the supervision of the Olympic, youth, and junior
coaches. A football championship was held in all Gaza stadiums shortly before
the war for those born in 2008, which was held in the days leading up to the
war. This was done in order to select distinguished players to join the
Palestinian national teams. Additionally, he worked at the Champions Academy
for a short period of time before returning home. I trained again and signed a
contract with Al-Hilal Club of Gaza three days before the war, but I was unable
to participate in any matches before the war.
As Captain Jundiyeh inspected his house and cried in every corner of the house,
in pain at the loss of his lifelong lover as well as his sports memories, it
was not easy to talk to him. His pain could only be expressed through talking
so that he could express his pain.
"There's
nothing that can be compensated. It seems that the hardships of life have
vanished with the wind, and there is no sign of the sports museum I established
inside my house. Throughout the museum, you will find all the medals, cups, and
the most precious accomplishments. This includes a bronze medal from the Arab
tournament with the Palestinian national team in. In addition, there is a
bronze medal in football during the third Asian Beach Games, held in China in
2012. This is in addition to medals, cups, and honorary shields. From all this
history, I was able to extract two Palestinian national team shirts that I wore
during my external participation. The second floor was where I lived, while the
third floor was for my children.”
As the raids intensified and
the bombing of Gaza City continued, the occupation dropped leaflets demanding
that residents head south and evacuate the city. There was no room for survival
in this situation, and no time for us to think immediately. As a result, we
decided to head south. It was a matter that we were able to resolve in the end
after talking to friends, and after reaching out to the president of the Deir
al-Balah Union Club, his son "Moaz Abu Salim," who is the son of late
Palestinian Football Association Vice President Ibrahim Abu Salim, offered us a
place to stay.
In
order to get to the south, he and his family had to travel a long distance. “My
family and I moved to Salah al-Din Road, accompanied by my mom. It was a
frightening atmosphere in general. There were numerous warplanes bombing the
sky non-stop and cars were not moving and transportation was completely
paralyzed as a result of this. It took us six kilometers for us to walk from Palestine
Stadium west of the city to Kuwait Roundabout in the middle of the Gaza Strip,
a distance of six kilometers on foot.
The man was unable to remember what had happened to him for some time, as he tried to recall what had transpired: “While we were walking long distances under Israeli bombardment, we were tired and on our way to our destination. The occupation forces bombed some cars carrying civilian displaced persons on the side of the road, and there were martyrs on the sides. After passing through the Netzarim checkpoint, [the Netzarim Corridor is an area in the Gaza Strip that served as an Israeli zone of military occupation from 2023 to 2024 during the genocidal war] we were forced to change the route and take another road from the Zeitoun neighborhood east of Gaza City, which took us through the Zeitoun neighborhood.”
He looked behind
him on his way to the south during the displacement, as if he were saying
farewell to the city where he had lived, leaving behind his beautiful memories
and details of his life. He said: “I left behind some of my most precious
memories, the most beautiful days of my life, and the warm memories I held
dear, as well as my medals, my club and Palestinian national team shirts, all
my belongings, and even my identification cards. Unfortunately, I was not able
to take them with me. In the area where I lived, the occupation destroyed
everything that was left. Then it was impossible to return.”
As a displaced
person and not a coach, Captain Saeb Jundiyeh arrived at Ittihad Deir al-Balah
Club, west of Deir al-Balah Governorate, after a difficult journey filled with
hardship and suffering to settle in the club as a displaced person and not a
coach. There was no way he could have imagined that the stadiums and clubs that
witnessed his achievements and sporting history were going to become places of
forced displacement. In his words, he said, "I arrived at the club after a
long struggle, and my friends were supportive enough to provide me with the
club's headquarters as a place to stay during the displacement process. As a
matter of fact, I never imagined that the club would become a place for
displacement and not a place for football. The green rectangle is where I
recorded the details of my life.”
As Jundiyeh looks at his life, he sees that it
has almost stopped. He is on the grounds of the Ittihad Deir al-Balah Club,
displaced and unable to practice sports. In order to survive, he has to wake up
early in the morning to find water, food, and firewood to light a fire in order
to prepare food. There are many aspects of our lives that are different from
the ones we had in our past lives. This is how he described the situation in which
he found himself.
During the temporary stay at
the club, the club's management, colleagues, and friends have taken part in a
number of sports initiatives that have been initiated by the club. The purpose
of these initiatives was to ease the anxiety and tension of the displaced
people and children who were living in camps.
A feeling of frustration and
despair dominated his mind as he tried to describe the reality he lives in, and
as he tried to describe it, he seemed to fade. “Although there have been repeated
aggressions in the past years, I have practiced sports and occupied myself with
them in order to cope with them. However, while we are in the midst of the war
of extermination, there is no time to think about sports or anything else that
might distract us from this war. Before anything else, there are some
priorities that need to be met. We have gone back hundreds of years, our lives
have ceased, many of our sports friends have become martyrs, a large number of
our relatives and cousins have passed away and nothing remains of our lives. In
addition to the death of everybody, schools, clubs, institutions, etc., have
all disappeared. A whole generation of people stands with their relatives in
the water lines, in the soup kitchens, and so on."
Like any father, he tries to
make sure that his children are protected and provided with all of the
necessary support: “For a high school student (his son), everything was
available to him: lighting, the ability to charge his phone and computer, and
he was able to take private lessons from a teacher. However, despite this, we
nonetheless looked for places to charge our batteries when we were displaced
from our homes. It was, however, not possible for us to obtain any of them.
While moving and searching for
charging points, there was no sense of safety. As a result of the final exams
this month, the winter season, and the displacement situation, we are
completely paralyzed at the moment. There is a lack of internet access, which
makes it difficult to print papers for my son's studies, causing the papers to
be expensive, not to mention the lack of health food to sustain him. In spite
of all this pain, memory does not have the power to overcome difficult
circumstances in life.”
It was during this time that
he heard the most challenging words he has ever heard: "Don't let me
die." These were the words of his cousin who suffered kidney failure while
accompanying him to the hospital. “During the displacement period from the
southern Gaza Strip to the northern Gaza Strip, I accompanied my sick cousin to
the hospital every day for the duration of that period. In the days prior to
the war, he returned to Gaza after undergoing an artificial kidney transplant,
as he was suffering from kidney failure and had undergone a transplant in the
past. One of his wife's kidneys was donated to him by her. In the midst of the
war and displacement, it was necessary to continue the treatment and take
special medications in order to preserve the kidney that had been
transplanted.”
“As a result of the closure
of the Rafah crossing, he was unable to get the medication he needed during the
war, and he was not able to travel because of the closure. My cousin, Fawaz
Jundiyeh, was a former football player at the Ittihad Al-Shuja'iyya Club and
also served as a cubs coach there for some years. I watched him dying in front
of my eyes every moment, and I was helpless to do anything about it. There was
nothing I could do for him except provide him with psychological support and
accompany him to the hospital. There was, however, a snag in the plan, and he
ended up leaving his life in pain, deprived of some of the most basic rights he
could have ever asked for."
From
Green Fields to the Horrors of the Apocalypse
By
Nelly Al-Masri
The Palestinian professional football player
Suleiman Al-Abeed, who claps his hands together in great pain, says with deep
sadness, "I am lost in all my sports history," and he describes his
feelings of loss and confusion after the occupation bombed his apartment. In
the course of the war of extermination launched by the occupation against Gaza
on October 7, 2023, he lost his entire sports legacy over the course of more
than twenty years.
As a result of the genocidal war, Al-Abeed
sought refuge with his relatives in the Al-Shati’ Refugee Camp, his hometown
west of Gaza City, a week after the war. This was after the occupation
announced it would start a ground operation north of the Strip. His
displacement journey began in one of the schools in one of the displacement
camps that are located in the Al-Karamah Towers area northwest of Gaza City,
where he lives. It was difficult for him to keep his tears from falling down as
he continued to speak: "I fled my house under the sound of the raids and
shelling that never stopped at that time. I took only the necessary personal
items with me; I had to secure the lives of my family. The only thing I have
left from the sports memories I had are the club shorts I was wearing under my
sweatpants at the time."
Al-Abeed stands
on the ruins, contemplating his longing for the past, as he says, "I have
no memories left. I hoped to get back home within days. It was with great
sadness that I had to leave my personal belongings, my Palestinian national
team jerseys that I had worn for ten years, my club jerseys that I played for,
the Khadamat Al-Shati' Club - the mother club, as well as the transfer to the
Gaza Sports Club and my professional work at the Al-Am’ari Club in Ramallah,
the West Bank, that I had been involved in for the past five years. Along with
medals, cups, and individual awards, as well as sportswear. This consisted of
75 sports sets, and the computer which contains all of my goals and my sports
career. Now I'm lost on the Internet looking for photos of myself to
keep."
It’s worth to
note that from the early 1950s, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees (UNRWA) also established service centers in Jabaliya, Rafah, Khan
Yunis, al-Shati’, al-Nusayrat, al-Burayj, and al-Maghazi, which became clubs
with their own teams, participating in local and Arab championships and playing
a leading role in the development of sports in the Strip.
As a Palestinian footballer, Al-Abeed was
born on March 24, 1984, in Gaza, where he began his career as a member of the
Palestinian club Al-Ahly. However, the team's coach at the time wasn't
impressed and asked to exclude him. He then moved to the Khadamat Al-Shati’
team in 2002 and since then his stardom has been manifested for more than
twenty years. Due to his remarkable skills and the dark coloring of his skin,
Nour El-Din Weld Ali, a former technical director of the Palestinian national football
team, described Al-Abeed as the Pele of Palestine.
In 2023/2024, the
Gaza Strip started playing the Palestinian Premier League. It was supposed to
end before Ramadan in 2024. Until the seventh round of the championship,
Khadamat Al-Shati’ was in second place. At the time, the team was trying to
compete with Ittihad Al-Shuja'iyya, which led the Palestine Cup Championship
for the southern governorates until that point, and reached the golden square
of the playoffs.
As early as October 7, 2023, he was
preparing his team with the goal of playing a match against Khadamat Rafah in a
crucial match. He says: "We were determined to win. We have started to
prepare for this match, since it is going to be different from all other
matches. It was anticipated that all the local teams would be looking forward
to facing this team, as it truly deserves to win championships. Our team was
fully prepared and ready to take on this team for first place." Due to
unforeseen circumstances, this match had to be postponed until October 8, 2023.
In this case, it is due to the fact that the police officers who secure the
matches were busy with the security of Yarmouk Stadium." Al-Abeed's coach,
Imad Hashem, the team’s coach for the team that Al-Abeed plays for, decided to
hold a morning training session on Saturday, October 7, 2023, during a
celebration in Gaza commemorating the 36th anniversary of the founding of the
Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine. The shock, however, had a significant
impact on the Gaza Strip people.
Al-Abeed describes what
happened: "As I was preparing my sports bag for the trip to training,
suddenly I heard explosions and shelling. At first glance, I thought it was a
distant raid. After finishing preparing all my belongings, I waited a while to
find out what was happening. As the situation progressed, it took a dangerous
turn with continuous raids and violent shelling. Our training session, however,
had to be postponed due to the fact that the stadium where we were training is
located near the Netzarim checkpoint and in a border area. It was agreed by the
coach that training would be canceled and instructions would be given two hours
before the match. It was when the players gathered at the club."
Israeli
raids intensified, hitting many parts of Gaza City. There has been a suspension
of Premier League matches and the Professional League in the West Bank until
further notice by the Palestinian Football Association."
Suleiman Al-Abeed is married and has three
daughters and two sons; he is the father of four children. He is keen to
maintain a balance between club activities and private life, since he mostly
focuses on his children. He says: "Before the genocide, my social life was
stable. There have been times when I have taken my children with me to the club
to train and teach football during the school holidays. I wanted them to become
like me in football. Due to the fact that I was the team captain, I had to be
with the players, following up with their affairs and some of their problems as
often as I could. I was there from sunset to dinner and then I was home."
The displacement,
according to him, occurred during the time when the occupation was moving
forward with the ground operation from the north of the Strip, and conditions
in the area developed at the same time during which he stayed in the school at
the beach camp for 40 days. “It was from the Al-Karamah area in the north that
the invasion began, reaching the Eye Hospital west of Gaza City and ending at
the intersection Al-Lababidi Street/Al-Nasr Street, which is less than one
kilometer from where I had taken refuge.” Due to the military occupation in
Gaza City, he was forced to leave his school in the camp and go to live with
his grandparents in the northern neighborhood of Al-Rimal in Gaza City. It
seemed as if everything flew above them: the stones of the bombed houses,
shrapnel from the shells, thick dust and smoke, everything.
In the meantime, the occupation
threatened Al-Shifa’ Hospital in Gaza and before that for a while. A massacre
took place at the Baptist Hospital in eastern Gaza, resulting in the deaths of
hundreds of people. According to him, he experienced a painful displacement
journey with his family, but he had no idea what awaited him would be so
unbelievable. “The occupation began to demand that the residents of Gaza City
move to what are called humanitarian areas in the southern Gaza Strip after the
occupation began demanding that the residents of Gaza City leave the city to
protect their families after I yielded to the insistence of relatives and my
friends to leave the city. In many ways, our displacement felt like traveling
through the unknown. His description of displacement can be summarized as
follows.”
“On the middle of
November 2023, we took some of the luggage we had with us, along with donkey
carts, to the Netzarim checkpoint, where we crossed into the southern Gaza
Strip. It was one day before the occupation had installed the Electronic Gate,
(the Milking Gate Al-Bawwaba Al-Hallaba) [the Israeli
occupation uses this gate as an apartheid device in order to humiliate
Palestinians and treat them as animals in a way that borders on apartheid. It
takes advantage of their need for treatment. In addition to this, it can also
be used to cross over areas that have been separated by a separation wall], as
it is commonly known among Gazans. This was despite occupation forces being at
the checkpoint.” In this moment, Ali was asking for a pardon at any cost in
order to cross over the gate of death at any cost. Trying to stay calm, he
remained silent.
As he remembered,
his eyes bulged as if time had just stopped: "We held a piece of white
clothing high in our hands, announcing our peace." With two kids on my
shoulders and some little bags, we walked to the checkpoint. It was important
for me to prepare my children not to look left or right in the hope that the
Israeli sniper would not get to them, and also for what they might see in front
of them. I tried to support them psychologically as much as possible so that
they would not be shocked when the attack took place.”
The checkpoint was crowded with displaced
people, and there were elderly people, sick people who could not walk, who were
forced to be left in the street, as well as others who were begging anyone to
help them by pushing their wheelchairs, but there was also an Israeli sniper
watching those who were giving help and there were mothers crying in grief,
searching for their sons who may have been martyred. Al-Abeed said that he did
not know anything about them, so he was unable to help them.
In spite of the
heavy steps they were making, they continued to try and cross the checkpoint
with their feet as if they were shackled by iron chains. They moved one after
another with a lot of weight. Between each move, there was a long, frightening
pause fraught with the possibility of death. In order for them to escape the Israeli
"Netzarim" death checkpoint, they had to cross a few meters.
“I never
imagined that my feet, with which I kicked the ball on grassy fields and score
goals, would walk on a bridge of human flesh that died in war raids. The
occupation made a bridge out of the martyrs' flesh and organs and covered it
with sand. When my family and I walked, it felt like a Hollywood horror movie.”
A sarcastic smile covered his features as he said: “I am still alive.”
He continued
describing the scene: On both sides of the checkpoint, there were burned cars
with traces of skeletons inside them, the remains of the bodies of people who
tried to escape the hell of war. The most terrifying thing that no human mind
can bear was that an Israeli bulldozer on the other side, transporting piles of
bodies and placing them in one place like a mountain, and severed human organs.
All these images came together in the ugly moments we live."
Upon arriving in
Deir al-Balah, Suleiman Al-Abeed was displaced to a school in the Al-Hikr area.
Due to its proximity to the Al-Matahin area, southeast of Deir al-Balah, and
near the Al-Qarara area in Khan Yunis, which was subjected to continuous
shelling and invasion for a short period of time, he was forced to leave the
area after a short time. There were raids that almost killed them all. After
that, he headed for his aunt's house in the "Umm Dahir" area of Deir
al-Balah with his wife and children. "I was with Haitham Abu Zaher,
accompanied by my friends, Ibrahim al-Amur, Muhammad al-Ashram, and Haitham's
brothers. As soon as the occupation invaded al-Matahin, it became a dangerous
area, and it was bombed. Residents in the area were told to evacuate. At the
time, we were still there. On that day, Haitham Abu Zaher made lunch for us.
The players and I were in a tent near the house. Ten of his friends came to help
him. The house was suddenly hit by a missile, causing Ibrahim al-Amur to suffer
injuries as well as Haitham's hand being broken. As for us, we were drowned in
a sea of sand and dust.”
Displacement didn't stop. After that, he
was forced to move to his other aunt in the Nakhil area, north of Deir
al-Balah, and that was the end of the road for him. He settled there. In his
own words, he says: “My aunt's house became overcrowded with displaced
relatives, so I decided to start a stall to sell some basic necessities to the
people. Nevertheless, when I met the player Mohammed Abu Jawhar, who played for
the Al-Maghazi Services Club and Al-Hilal of Gaza and who came to this area as
a refugee person from the Al-Maghazi area in the middle of the Strip, he set up
his tent next to me, adding it to the tent that I already had. For a small
amount of money, I bought a solar panel for lighting and charging mobile phones
for the displaced, as well as a "beIN Sports" receiver for them. Our
group gathered in the tent over the weekend to watch the matches, and friends
of the players gathered there as well. I believe that fame was a big part of
making the tent a small project, a café to serve drinks.” Attending the matches
also inspired us to expand the simple project, bringing a third tent and I also
bought a TV screen, and the place became beautiful and spacious enough to
accommodate a large number of young people who would like to attend the
international matches after such a bloody year.”
In spite of the fact that they lived
throughout the whole year in the Gaza Strip, Al-Abeed and his companions never
stopped playing their favorite game, football, despite all the hardships they
faced. In some of the displacement camps in Deir al-Balah, he was able to take
advantage of the presence of many football players. As part of their weekly
schedule, they rented one of the private five-a-side pitches in Abu Areef, east
of Deir al-Balah, twice a week and divided the rent among themselves. It is
estimated that the rental cost was at least (80) Israeli shekels, which is
approximately (27) US dollars, divided among fifteen players. He says: “Our
practice of football in displacement is an extremely important matter for us to
escape despair, frustration and tension, as well as to meet friends and
maintain some level of physical fitness at the same time.” Despite the
seriousness of the situation, it is expected that any place will be bombed at
any time without prior warning, regardless of its location.
Lost Dreams on Displacement Road
By Nelly Masri
“Raise your head
as you raise the Palestinian flag,” says Palestinian runner Tamer Qaoud (20
years old), a player on the Palestinian national team for athletics, as he
describes the mockery of the occupation soldiers when they ordered him to look
at the surveillance camera at the Netzarim checkpoint while he was waiting to
be allowed to cross it coming from northern Gaza.”
As the genocide
in Gaza was continuing at the end of February 2024, the player Qaoud decided to
leave the Jabalia Camp and head to the south of the Gaza Strip, as the
Palestinian Athletics Federation had asked him to do so in order to be near the
Rafah crossing, so he could travel and participate in sports competitions in
the region.
It was a few days
before the war that Tamer took part in the Olympic Games in China on September
23, 2023. Tamer finished tenth in the men's 1500m heat with a time of four
minutes and one second. Upon his return to Gaza, he carried many dreams in his
bag, and his eyes were fixed on the upcoming international championships that
were awaiting him. "I returned to Gaza with many dreams and ambitions in
my heart," the voice of his grumbled in pain. It has been decided that I
will start a new phase of training with my coach Bilal Abu Semaan in order to prepare
for the Olympic Games in Paris in August 2024. Following my training with my
coach in Algeria, I traveled to the Track and Field Championship in Iraq,
followed by the Paris Olympics, where I competed in the athletics competition.
The man remained silent
for a while, wiping sweat from his forehead that was dripping, and he seemed to
be confused at the same time. In a short time after that, he continued to say:
"In a moment, I felt that I had lost everything, my dreams, my home, the
playgrounds where I had trained, my friends, everything. We awoke on October 7
to the sounds of shelling and raids and the occupation announced in the first
week of the war that our area (Jabalia camp) was dangerous, and leaflets were
dropped in the area demanding that residents evacuate on October 13, 2023 due
to the danger.
Tamer did not expect our marathon to be
different from what he had participated in on international and Arab stadiums
earlier in the year. Rather, it was a marathon run in which he ran with his family
as well as jumping to escape the fire of the shells and their flames, until he
escaped the fire of the shells. All of this was done in a short time.
According to him, the horror of the bloody
marathon can be described in the following way: "On the 13th of October
2023, we were forced to leave the house and head to the south of the sector for
the sake of safety. We carried the necessary things to bear the displacement.
Our journey continued as the Israeli occupation forces began bombing the
displaced people who had preceded us a short distance from us while we were
still on our way. In a cruel scene devoid of humanity, with injured people
lying on the ground, the remains of the displaced people all over the place,
and women and children screaming and wailing, it was a cruel sight.”
“It was a day
that I will never forget.” The day after the bombing, Tamer and his family were
forced to return to the bombed house despite the danger the area posed to them.
Due to the fact that at that time there weren't any alternatives or solutions
to survival, this was the case. “After many hours of fleeing from one place to
another to save myself and my family members from the occupation's shells and
heavy gunfire, we returned to our destroyed house despite the bombing. In a
short period of time, the occupation surrounded and stormed the Indonesian
Hospital and Kamal Adwan Hospital, both of which are close to our home, and
bombed them."
In the midst of
artillery shells that reached our house, he continues with his narration as
follows: "On the fourth of December 2023, it felt as if time had suddenly
slowed down. We were targeted by random shells that were fired directly. While
we were inside the house, a fire broke out and the warehouse on the lower floor
of the building was completely destroyed by fire. As we rushed towards my
uncle's screaming house on the first floor, we heard a commotion on the first
floor. We were surprised when my uncle died after an injury. He and many of his
family members were injured, and the matter ended with the burning down of our
house. Overall, we escaped death by a miracle.”
Tamer and his family were forced to leave
their destroyed home once more and fled to his uncle's house near Kamal Adwan
Hospital, where they met the same fate as before. "After our house was
bombed, we went to my uncle's house to escape the occupation after the bomb was
dropped on our house. As soon as we arrived, the house had been bombed with a
shell that didn't explode. As there was no place to go, we refused to leave the
house and stayed inside because there was no place to go, despite the potential
danger of this shell exploding. We then moved to UNRWA schools the next day,
where we stayed for a month. We were forced to return to our destroyed home
after the occupation destroyed the schools there and stormed some of them.”
The difficult
days continued for the player Tamer Qaoud, as he hoped that the war would end
in the near future, and that he would be able to return to his favorite sport
and travel to represent the Palestinian flag at international conferences.
However, the date of December 17 proved to be the worst for him, as an
unexpected occurrence occurred on that particular date. In his own words, he
says: "Despite the darkness and difficulty of the days, I had a great deal
of hope that the war would end and I would be able to return to the stadiums.
It's shocking, however, that my coach, Bilal Semaan, was killed while trying to
rescue the injured from the Israeli bombing. There was a profound sense of
frustration and despair in me, since he had always supported me both in
training and personally. It was his dream that I would be able to participate
in the Olympic Games in 2028. His killing caused me to lose something important
to me.”
Tamer Qaoud was a
participant in many championships outside Palestine, including those in
Tunisia, Lebanon, Qatar, Morocco, Algeria, Turkey, China, and Thailand. In the
year 2023, he achieved the Asian personal record for 1500 km in 3 minutes and
54 seconds at the Arab Games Championship in Algeria by completing the race in
3 minutes and 54 seconds.
In order for an
athlete to achieve record numbers, it is necessary to consume the right type of
nutrition. It is also important to note that superior athletic performance is
not only achieved through extensive training, but also through accurate and
appropriate nutrition as well. In Gaza, Tamer and the Palestinian athletes had
no access to such nutrition. In his words, "The famine began in the
northern Gaza Strip, and the crossings were closed, and for a long time, we did
not receive food aid from the outside world." As a result, there was a
severe shortage of food materials, including flour and other food products.
Because of this, my family and I have been grinding animal feed to satisfy our
hunger in order to survive. Taking a moment to think about this, I found it hard
to think of myself as an athlete who needs healthy nutrition, not to mention
pollution, water, lack of medicines, and diseases and epidemics that could be
of concern. I lost a lot of weight.”
As a result of all of the difficult
circumstances that Tamer had to deal with, he decided to comply with the
request of the Palestinian Athletics Federation to head south of the Gaza
Strip. In order to complete his athletic career, he had to journey through the
Rafah land crossing in order to do so. At the beginning of February 2024, it
was six in the morning. I headed to the Netzarim checkpoint, despite continuous
bombing and raids, leaving my family behind so that I could finish my athletic
career abroad. It was time to leave Jabalia camp. A little bag containing a few
very essential items was on "Qaoud's" shoulders when he arrived at
the checkpoint early that morning.
"It was the greatest
adventure I could have ever imagined being killed for." In the testimony
he provided at that time, he described the situation as frightening: "Many
people were standing in a humiliating line, and not far from them, occupation
soldiers were trying to provoke them, insult them, and shout offensive things
at them through loudspeakers. They seemed tired, in pain, and carrying whatever
they could of what remained of their memories and essential needs. They were
children, women, and the elderly and young people waiting for their turn to
cross the checkpoint. They were forbidden to move or look right or left except
by soldiers' order.”
He continues: “At that
moment, I was overwhelmed with anxiety and fear that I would be arrested or
shot and killed. I saw before me a quick reel of my life, my memories, my
sports achievements, my sports dream, and my family. Suddenly, a storm of dust
and dirt filled our eyes. I realized that an Israeli tank had done that as a
insult and provocation.”
“Eventually, I was able to
cross the checkpoint, reach Rafah difficultly, walk on foot, and settle down
with my friend after a long journey. Three months have passed since I waited
for my name to appear on the list of travelers from the Rafah land crossing.
There was a long period of time that passed and I waited for a long time
because there were a large number of citizens fleeing the war. After the
occupation invaded Rafah in May 2024, the crossing was occupied and closed by
the occupation forces and I registered to travel. It was at that time that I
was forced to flee to Deir al-Balah in the middle of the Strip in order to
avoid death.”
As of this
moment, Tamer Qaoud is finally a displaced person in Deir al-Balah, and this is
the first time that this has happened. During the wait for him to travel
outside the country, all of his dreams were lost and scattered on the side of
the road. According to him, after the invasion of Rafah and the closure of the
crossing, I was displaced from Rafah by my uncle, and my father was with him
during the displacement to Deir al-Balah. It was one of the workers, who worked
in the territories occupied in 1948, and at the beginning of the war, the
occupation deported him with the workers to the south, and I stayed with him
until the end of the war. There was a moment when I realized that my dreams
were gone and I would not be able to travel anymore. The dream I had was so far
away from becoming reality that I didn't know when it would come true.
The Unhealed Wounds
By Nelly Al-Masri
"I felt defeated", those were the
words he spoke in the middle of his speech. He expressed the curse of loss he
experienced twice in his life, once with the loss of his mother and once with
his sister's martyrdom. More than once, he describes displacement as the
harshest stage of sadness and oppression. During the war, Hamada Muhammad Musa
Ishbair, a former Palestine national football team player and current coach of
Al-Ahly Palestinian club, had no choice but to flee and protect his family.
In his words: "The idea of relocating
started after my house was bombed without warning on October 15th 2023, in the
Al-Shati’ camp in west Gaza City. In the middle of the night, I heard a huge
explosion that shook the foundations of the house as if someone had lifted it
from its place and lowered it back to the ground. As a result, there was
confusion, tension, and fear among my children. It was a situation in which I
had no choice and no room for second thoughts. My wife and I hugged them, and
then we got up and left."
As Ishbeir
explains in a tone of voice that conveys the sense of victory he feels after
miraculously escaping with his family and children during the house bombing.
You can't tell the difference between a real victory and escaping death. As far
as the important stuff was concerned, I didn't take anything. It was a miracle
that we escaped the bombing. I left in the clothes I was wearing at the time,
as did my children and my wife, who also left in the clothes they were wearing.
It was for the sake of preserving our family that we left everything behind. As
for money, it could be compensated since for us, the most important thing was
to escape and without losing any lives. ”
There was a moment of silence, as if he was
racing against time, narrating the painful details that he had experienced, as
the people of the Gaza Strip also experienced: "I headed to my relatives'
house, my wife's family, but the bombing was waiting for us again, so I headed
back. There was a bombing that took place adjacent to the in-law's house, and
the room where I was staying had been damaged, so I suffered bruises all over
my body.
The situation at that time was becoming more
difficult, and the intensity of raids was becoming more intense everywhere at
the same time. Due to the lack of a safe house, the decision must be made to
flee in this difficult situation. This is similar to what has been done in the
past. It was with great fear that I fled while injured and I decided to reach
out to Al-Shifa Hospital, which is west of Gaza City. I stayed there for a
month and a half, avoiding death for myself and my family. We were informed by
the Israeli occupation that Al-Shifa Hospital was not safe, and the Israeli
occupation always threatened it, so we had to evacuate the hospital and move to
the southern Gaza Strip.
Hamada Ishbair's started as a coach the al-Ahli Club of Palestine, which
rose to the Premier League quickly and achieved good results until the seventh
week of season 2023-2024. On October 7, 2023, the occupation declared war on
Gaza, and the championship was halted. Previously, he promoted the team to the
Premier League. His focus was on getting great results with the team, but it
was impossible because of the genocidal war.
Hamada Ishbair became a coach
after retiring from football. He coached his mother club, Khadamat Al-Shate’
Club, as an assistant to Bashir Atallah. Afterwards, he managed Al-Shate’ Club
and won the Premier League runner-up. After that, he led Al-Sadaka Club to its
first Elite Championship. Coached Palestinian Al-Ahly Club and won the first
division football championship and promoted them to the Premier League.
In the cycle of displacement, on November
11th 2023, he was displaced from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza to the
southern Gaza Strip. The circle of sadness and pain got wider. “My mom had a
serious health problem and spent more than two weeks at Al-Aqsa Martyrs
Hospital. She was in a very difficult situation at the time.” He recalled how
she was in pain with a sad voice and sadness features dominating her face. She
couldn't get medicine and treatment from him. He was trying to console her and
calm her down. There is no way to describe it, it cannot even be felt and it
cannot be described in any way. Having your mother in front of you and not
being able to treat her is not an easy thing for her.
Although the hospital was
experiencing a difficult health situation and there was a shortage of
medications, the hands of fate played a part in the event. She passed away on
December 6th 2023, and she was buried in the Deir al-Balah cemetery
in the Gaza Strip, where she was laid to rest.
His life of accomplishments
and success turned upside down, weighed him down, and made him look pale. Coach
Ishbair grew up competing in the Beach Services Khadamat al-Shati’ Club and
competed in all age groups before he moved up to the first team in the club.
Over the course of more than ten years, he served as a team captain. He got retired
from the Khadamat al-Shate' Club. As a
player for Palestine's youth and Olympic teams, he also played for the first
national team. He represented Palestine at all international forums, Asian
qualifiers, West Asia, the Arab Championship, and the Asian Olympics. Nearly a
hundred international games were played by him.
“I was displaced after my mom
passed away with my family and siblings to the UNRWA Industrial School in Khan
Yunis, south of Gaza.” During the three months we stayed in the school, the occupation
besieged us. It continued to bomb the school area, causing unexpected and
unimaginable things.
“My sister was martyred along with other
martyrs, after suffocating from smoke during the school bombing. As part of the
martyrs' remembrance, she was buried inside the school along with the other
martyrs.”
Ishbair's most difficult situations didn't
end. In his own words, he says that after his mother died due to a lack of
medicine, my sister became seriously ill, and my sister was martyred during the
bombing. As a general rule, the atmosphere was extremely painful, there was
pain, wounds, displacement, and loss in abundance. “I was, however, shocked to
find out that the Nasser Hospital administration in Khan Yunis asked me to
retrieve my sister's body, which had been buried at the UNRWA Industrial School
six months ago, and transfer it to the Deir al-Balah cemetery next to my
mother's grave. Would that be possible for me to do then?”
As a result of the separation, the wound from
the separation began to bleed again. His emotions were suppressed and he tried
not to show his feelings to anyone. Even though Gazan men experience the same
pain and oppression as Gazan women and children, it is important to note that
everyone is in the same situation.
We were forced to move to
Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and two of my brothers were arrested and we
have not been able to get in touch with them since. Is there any oppression
greater than what we are experiencing right now?" He asked in pain.
"After that, I and all my family members were displaced to Rafah and
stayed there for a period of more than three months."
We were shocked to find
leaflets dropped on the Rafah Governorate by the occupation demanding that
residents and displaced people leave and evacuate the area. It was in
preparation for its invasion. Immediately, we headed to Deir al-Balah in the
central governorate. We didn't know where to go. I was paralyzed. What happened
after Deir al-Balah? Our strength had failed us and we couldn't do anything. I'm
now in a camp for athletes in Deir al-Balah.
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