Scotland may have a bit of an obsession with football despite having just been ousted from Euro 24, but for Palestinians football is also very important. For the people of Gaza – Football is gone, all professional stadiums destroyed, and footballers killed (including children just having a wee kick about).
The bombardment and genocide being committed in Gaza by the State of Israel since 7th October 2023 has killed 37,718 Palestinians.
Amongst those killed was footballer Mohammed Barakat in an Israeli bombing of his house in Khan Younis on 11th March.
Barakat represented the national Palestine team, for whom he appeared three times, and the Ahly Gaza football club in the local league. A top goal scorer his death was called a “huge loss for Palestinian football” by Khalid Abu-Habel, a local club footballer.
Hani Al-Masdar, one of Palestine’s greatest footballers and a manager of the Olympic team, was killed in January.
On his death The New York Times related that Al-Masdar, a Real Madrid supporter, would wear the No 7 shirt of his favourite player — Cristiano Ronaldo.
Al-Masdar won trophies and, coming of age as Palestine gained FIFA status in 1998, began to play for his country. In 2003, his club lifted the Gaza Cup; a photo of Al-Masdar lifting the trophy as their 22-year-old captain was his profile picture on social media until he died. After retiring in 2018, Al-Masdar became a coach. He attended multiple matches each weekend and was instantly recognisable.
Footballers, and children hoping to become like their sporting idols, have been killed in the ongoing slaughter in Gaza. On Monday, April 15, the Palestinian Football Association announced that three children from the Al-Wahda Sports Academy had been killed during Israeli raids in Deir al-Balah, located in the heart of the Gaza Strip. One was aged 4 and his two friends were 6 years old.
Dozens of football facilities have been decimated including all of Gaza’s professional football stadiums, as well as the PFA headquarters, which was targeted by Israeli airstrikes.
Click on this link for Footballers and Other Athletes known to have been killed, missing or detained since October 7th
75%, 1.7million people, have been displaced in Gaza, many of them multiple times.
85,523 have been injured – including the loss of limbs.
The Missing Children
Nearly 21,000 children are missing – they could be among the many displaced people hoping to find shelter in makeshift camps, or they could be lying beneath the rubble of their destroyed communities.
On 24 June, Save the Children (SCI) reported that over 20,000 children in Gaza are estimated to be “lost, disappeared, detained, buried under rubble or in mass graves.” Children who have been separated from their parents and are with strangers are particularly vulnerable to violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect.
Coupled with repeated displacement and incessant hostilities, children in Gaza have become susceptible to a wide spectrum of mental health issues that doctors are observing in Gaza; MSF Mental Health Activity Manager in Gaza, Davide Musardo, described images of children “maimed, with burns or without parents. Children having panic attacks, because physical pain triggers psychological wounds…Calmer children draw[ing] drones and military jets.” Little children do not have the tools to cope with the scale of loss, suffering and trauma surrounding them, Musardo explained, and are increasingly showing symptoms of depression, anxiety and acute stress, with many expressing a “desire to die instead of living this horror.”
In the latest Humanitarian Situation Update issued by OCHA on 28th June its key points report:
- A high risk of famine persists in the Gaza Strip, a new IPC analysis finds.
- At least 60,000 people were displaced from Gaza City and 5,000 from Al Mawasi area of Rafah overnight, according to initial estimates by the Site Management Working Group.
- Twenty-one children suffering from cancer leave Gaza in first medical evacuation since early May; according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, about 10,000 cancer patients, including nearly 1,000 children, require medical evacuation.
- Critical water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services are hanging by a thread due to severe fuel shortages, warns the WASH Cluster.
Between the afternoons of 24 and 27 June, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, 139 Palestinians were killed and 331 were injured. Between 7 October 2023 and 27 June 2024, at least 37,765 Palestinians were killed and 86,429 were injured in Gaza, according to MoH in Gaza. Casualty figures covering the period until the afternoon of 28 June are not available as of the time of reporting.
Between 7 October and 28 June, according to the Israeli military and official Israeli sources cited in the media, over 1,514 Israelis were killed, the majority on 7 October. These include 314 soldiers killed on 7 October and its immediate aftermath and 314 soldiers killed in Gaza or along the border in Israel since the beginning of the ground operation. In addition, 2,005 soldiers were reported injured since the beginning of the ground operation. As of 24 June, it is estimated that 120 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including fatalities whose bodies are withheld.
On Saturday, 29th June, islanders in Orkney will again meet on the Kirk Green, St Magnus Cathedral between 1 and 2pm in their continuing vigil for Peace – calling for an immediate ceasefire, a return of all hostages, and the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid.
It is difficult for some islanders to attend the vigils especially if they live on the smaller isles. An event is being organised in Sanday for Saturday 13th July where Kites will be flown at Cata Sands in support of the people of Gaza. Kites 4 #Gaza at the Cata Sands, Sanday
Anyone who wishes to join with islanders at their vigils is most welcome.
Fiona Grahame