The Electronic Intifada 7 February 2025
The Palestinian Amputee Football Association is hoping to rebuild capacity after the near total destruction of Gaza’s sports facilities during Israel’s genocide. Here, a national game in 2021 in Gaza’s Palestine Stadium.
APA imagesIsrael’s 15-month genocidal aggression on Gaza took a heavy toll on Iyad al-Aklou, 18.
In November 2023, an Israeli attack struck his home in the Beach refugee camp in Gaza City. The attack killed his mother and left him needing his right hand amputated.
Like hundreds of thousands of others, he was then forced to flee his area and had been taking shelter in a flimsy and leaky tent in Khan Younis with his cousins.
Until the ceasefire came into effect on 19 January, he was separated from his immediate family, including his father.
Growing up with a love of football, Iyad used to play as a midfielder or forward with Gaza City’s Al-Sadaqa Club, which Israel bombed.
According to the Palestine Football Association, Israel’s genocidal violence resulted in the killing of over 700 athletes, including 382 footballers.
“Football was my childhood. Before the war on Gaza, I had a sound body and used to play well. I loved socializing with people outside and spending time with them.”Things have changed for him now, al-Aklou told The Electronic Intifada.
“I can’t get past what I have been through over the past 14 months. I am simply not the same person. There is a missing part of my life. I’ve evolved into an introvert. I don’t want people looking at me with sympathy.”
His passion for football has remained undimmed though. He and some other players have recently resumed playing five-a-side football and Iyad played as a goalkeeper.
It was a “bizarre feeling,” he said. It was as if he still had both hands, which of course he didn’t, a distinct disadvantage for a goalkeeper.
Nevertheless, he still remains committed to pursuing a professional career.
“I hope the ceasefire will last forever, so we can live in peace and freedom and return to our homes in Gaza. Despite my injury, I’ll never stop and will pursue my passion of becoming a professional footballer.”
Love and passion
He might just, paradoxically, have a better chance in Gaza than in many other places.
The Palestinian Amputee Football Association was founded in 2018, when thousands of young people wound up amputees after participating in the peaceful weekly protests of the Great March of Return at the Gaza boundary.
In response, the Israeli military instituted a shoot-to-maim policy, causing more than 6,000 injuries, mostly to the lower limbs.
Today, after the even more unhinged violence of Israel’s genocide, Gaza is home to “the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history,” according to the UN.
Iyad al-Aklou
Fouad Abu Ghalioon, 67, is the founder of the amputee association. It was, he said, built to revive the young amputees’ “love and passion for football and offer them relief and support.”
Under Israel’s genocide, the headquarters of the association was turned into a shelter for the displaced, but officials have recently started organizing five-a-side games again.
There is a long way to go, Abu Ghalioon conceded. “Gaza’s sports infrastructure has been annihilated. Almost no facility escaped Israel’s attacks.”
Aside from financial and material support to rebuild sports facilities, Abu Ghalioon also said there was a need for psychological support for the many young people who have now joined the ranks of amputees in Gaza.
But he said the association was determined to put out a team for the qualifying rounds for the next Amputee World Cup.
“Our team lacks members but has determination and ambition. With the ceasefire, we hope for the crossings to be reopened to take part in the World Cup qualification,” Abu Ghalioon told The Electronic Intifada.
“Our athletes resist through sports.”
A priority
Defender Mehdi al-Nawasra, 27, formerly of Khadamat Al-Maghazi FC, returned to the rubble of his house in Maghazi refugee camp east of Deir al-Balah once the ceasefire went into effect on 19 January.
On 24 December 2023, Israeli airstrikes struck his house and killed his entire family, 48 relatives among 70 people killed in total, including his parents. He was severely wounded. A week later, his right leg was amputated. He was eventually forced to take refuge in Deir al-Balah for a year.
His fiancée, who is from the north, remained there, and al-Nawasra survived alone for the duration of the genocide.
When interviewed in January, he was keen to reunite with her and rebuild his life as well as his career.
“I always relished football. Playing for me was pure happiness. But I can’t play the game as before, I can’t even walk and work as before.”
Nevertheless, al-Nawasra is adamant that he will play again and has a message for the international football federation, FIFA.
“I look forward to starting a new life,” he said. “But I lost my family, my football career, my house, my leg. My message to FIFA and all sports organizations is that we’re like anyone across the globe. We must be a priority for you.”
Abubaker Abed is a journalist and translator from Deir al-Balah refugee camp in Gaza.
