Mohamed Salah calls out Uefa tribute to Palestinian footballer ‘killed in Israeli aid attack'
Salah was criticised shortly after the start of the war for not speaking out in support of Palestinians. Nearly two weeks after the conflict first erupted, the Egypt national team captain posted a video on social media in which he said: 'It is not always easy to speak in a time like this. There has been too much violence and too much heartbreak and brutality.
'The escalations in recent weeks is unbearable to witness. All lives are sacred and must be protected. The massacres need to stop, families are being torn apart.'
Salah, who has contributed large financial donations towards the aid effort in Gaza, also called for 'world leaders to come together to prevent further slaughter of innocent souls'.
With Gaza in the throes of a hunger crisis, the UN rights office said last month that Israeli forces had killed more than 1,300 Palestinians trying to get food aid in the territory since late May.
An ex-player of the Khadamat Al-Shati club in Gaza, Obeid played 24 international matches for Palestine, the PFA said.
The midfielder also played for the Al-Amari Youth Center Club in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
While living there in 2010, Obeid was among six players on the national team from Gaza who were turned back at the Jordanian border for 'security reasons' on their way to a friendly in Mauritania.
An Israeli security official said at the time that the players had failed to renew special permits allowing them to play in the West Bank.
'When I heard that we would be forbidden from travelling I was very upset, because any athlete dreams of wearing his national jersey in international forums,' Obeid told AFP in 2010.
'We want to be able to travel freely with our families, just like athletes anywhere else in the world.'
Israel had previously allowed the six players to travel with the team.
Born in Gaza City, Obeid was married and is survived by his wife and five children.
Since the start of the Gaza war, triggered by Palestinian militant group Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, 662 people from the sport and scouting sector have been killed, according to the PFA.
Israel's offensive has killed at least 61,258 in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
The 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
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