More than one thousand members of the Palestinian sports and scouting movement have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the Israeli aggression in October 2023, a source within the sector reported on Tuesday.
The vice president of the Palestinian Olympic Committee (POC), Asaad Al-Majdalawi, told the press that the first fatality was Omar Fares Abu Shawish, a member of the Palestinian Sports Culture Federation, who died while exercising on Al-Zawaida beach, located in the center of the territory.
The official detailed that the most recent victim to date was international referee Khader Fayyad, who died last Sunday following an Israeli incursion.
Al-Majdalawi pointed out that sport was and remains a peaceful language of resistance, carrying the message of a people exhausted by occupation.
A study by the Palestinian Organization of Sports (POC) last year highlighted that the Israeli army destroyed 265 sports facilities in Gaza, 184 of which were completely demolished and 81 damaged.
The figure included 23 stadiums, 25 indoor multi-purpose sports halls, 58 club headquarters, and 12 centers affiliated with the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA).
Among the damaged or destroyed facilities are three swimming pools, 15 basketball, volleyball, and tennis courts, as well as Gaza’s only athletics track, 49 gymnasiums, 40 futsal courts, and 19 sports training centers, he emphasized.
In June 2024, both the POC and the Palestinian Football Association called for Israel’s exclusion from the Paris Games due to the crimes committed in the occupied territories.
In that regard, they sent a letter to the heads of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, and FIFA, Gianni Infantino.
[ SOURCE: PRENSA LATINA ]
