‘Palestinian Pelé' shot dead by Israeli forces in Gaza, football association says
Former Palestine national team player Suleiman al-Obeid, known as the "Palestinian Pelé", has been killed by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip, the sport's local governing body said.
Obeid, 41, was killed Wednesday when Israeli forces "targeted people waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip", the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) said in a statement.
With Gaza in the throes of a hunger crisis caused by Israel's severe restrictions on the amount of humanitarian aid it allows into the besieged territory, the UN rights office said last month that Israeli forces had killed more than 1,300 Palestinians trying to get food aid in the enclave since late May.
Around 12,000 children aged under five in Gaza are suffering from acute malnutrition, and hunger-related deaths are rising, the World Health Organization has said.
An ex-star of the Khadamat Al-Shati club in Gaza, Obeid played 24 international matches for team Palestine, the PFA said.
"During his long career, Al-Obeid scored more than 100 goals, making him one of the brightest stars of Palestinian football," it added.
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 had five children.
Since the start of the Gaza war, triggered by Palestinian militant group Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, 662 people from the sport and scouting sector have been killed, including 321 in the football community, according to the PFA.
Israel's offensive has killed at least 61,258 people in Gaza, according to the 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.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)
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