‘Palestinian Pele' Suleiman al-Obeid killed while seeking aid in Gaza
Al-Obeid, 41, was killed on Wednesday when Israeli forces attacked people waiting near an aid distribution centre in southern Gaza, the Palestinian Football Association said.
He was nicknamed the 'Pele of Palestinian football' – after the Brazilian professional footballer widely regarded as one of the best football players of all time.
During his long career, the Gaza player scored more than 100 goals, making him one of the brightest stars of Palestinian football.
'Former national team player and star of the Khadamat al-Shati team, Suleiman Al-Obeid, was martyred after the [Israeli] occupation forces targeted those waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday,' the Palestinian Football Association said in a statement.
While FIFA refuses to ban Israel from its competitions, Israel has killed hundreds of football players in Gaza since October 2023.
They include Suleiman Al-Obeid, who was nicknamed the 'Pelé of Palestinian football' and was killed while waiting for aid in Gaza on August 6. pic.twitter.com/P9VoZHJ5W0
— AJ+ (@ajplus) August 6, 2025
With al-Obeid's death, the number of athletes and their family members killed in the Strip since the start of Israel's war has risen to 662.
The number of football-related deaths in Gaza now stands at 321, including players, coaches, administrators, referees and club board members.
The former football star began his career with the Khadamat al-Shati club in Gaza, before joining the ranks of the Al-Amari Youth Center Club in the occupied West Bank.
At the international level, al-Obeid played 24 international matches with Al-Fida'i, scoring two goals, the most famous of which was a scissor kick goal against the Yemeni national team during the 2010 West Asian Football Federation Championship.
The football star leaves behind a wife and five children.
More than 1,300 Palestinians have been killed near aid distribution sites run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation since it began operations in late May.
At least 18 people were killed while seeking aid on Wednesday, medical sources told Al Jazeera, amid a growing hunger crisis in the territory as Israel continues to impose severe restrictions on supplies of humanitarian aid.
Gaza's hospitals, meanwhile, have recorded four new deaths due to famine and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, according to the enclave's Ministry of Health, raising the total number of hunger-related deaths to 197, including 96 children, since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023. Most of the deaths have been in recent weeks.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Al Jazeera
Slot hints at new Liverpool bid for Newcastle's Isak
Liverpool manager Arne Slot has refused to rule out an improved bid for Newcastle's Alexander Isak as the Premier League champions consider adding to their formidable firepower as Darwin Nunez is set to leave for Saudi Arabia. After a quiet first year in the transfer market under Slot, the Reds have spent almost 300 million pounds ($402m) on forwards Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike as well as full-backs Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong. Nunez is one of a number of significant exits that will help recoup much of that outlay as the Uruguayan closes in on a 46-million-pound ($61.8m) move to Al Hilal. Liverpool reportedly had a 110-million-pound ($147.8m) bid for Isak turned down by Newcastle, who are seeking a record British transfer fee. The Swedish striker has not been part of the Magpies' preseason preparations and has been told to train on his own by Newcastle. 'You never talk about players that are not yours,' Slot said at his pre-match news conference before Sunday's Community Shield against Crystal Palace at Wembley, the traditional curtain-raiser for the season. 'I think we have a lot of attacking power in our team. When I think about Cody Gakpo, Federico Chiesa, Hugo Ekitike, Mo Salah, Jeremie Frimpong, who can play as a right-winger, Florian Wirtz, who can play as a left-winger, I already feel I have a lot of attacking options in my current squad. 'But as always as a club, we are always looking at the chances in the market.' Last season, Liverpool celebrated a record-equalling 20th English top-flight title but were devastated last month by the death of forward Diogo Jota. The Portuguese international was killed in a car accident with his brother in northern Spain as he began to make his way back to England for the preseason. A series of tributes has been paid to Jota at every Liverpool game since and will continue throughout the season. A 'Forever 20' emblem, referencing Jota's now-retired shirt number, will be printed on Liverpool's shirts this season while a permanent memorial will be installed at Anfield. 'First of all, tragedy impacted us, but it impacted far more his wife, children and parents,' Slot said. 'But it impacted us as well, definitely. The tributes that have been done since were all very emotional and impressive every time we were somewhere. 'It started off in Preston and in Asia as well. It's been emotional but impressive as well.'
Al Jazeera
3 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Far-right Israeli football fans set off pyrotechnics in Latvia's capital
Riga, Latvia – Thick black smoke billowed across Skonto Stadium as fans of the Israeli football team, Beitar Jerusalem, defied UEFA rules, setting off several rounds of pyrotechnics. With only one minute played of the UEFA Conference League qualifier match against Riga FC, Latvian fans looked bewildered as a Beitar fan, wearing a black balaclava, nonchalantly threw a succession of fireworks around the stand, causing a small fire and scorching parts of the away stand. A banner displaying the name of Beitar supporters' fan club, 'La Familia', sat draped across the stands. The notoriously racist fan club, which is known for its anti-Arab chants and violent behaviour, has in the past come up against the police in Israel. In 2016, an undercover police operation resulted in the arrest of 56 fans on suspicion of smuggling weapons and violence. On Thursday, one Beitar fan held up an Israeli flag in the home stand, garnering cheers from other Beitar fans, but angry stewards ushered them down the steps and into the away stand. The team, which in its 89-year history has never signed an Arab player, boasts right-wing Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir among its supporters. It is currently playing its home matches in Romania due to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and travelled to Latvia just weeks after fans were filmed chanting 'Death to Arabs' while marching through the streets of Bucharest, where their team beat Sutjeska of Montenegro 5-2. After the Riga game on Thursday, the raucous fans were held inside the stadium perimeter for about half an hour. A solitary home fan shouted 'free Palestine' towards the direction of the Beitar fans gathered behind the gates. 'F**k Palestine', came the response. The game had ended 3-0 to Riga FC, and afterwards, Beitar fans let out their frustration by setting off flares in heavy traffic. Amid the chaos, a number were herded off to police vans by Latvian police. 'Double standards' The chaotic, alcohol-fuelled behaviour displayed by Beitar fans may not be new to European football, but it comes amid the backdrop of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians and led to calls from rights groups for Israeli teams to be banned from European football competitions. The world football governing body, FIFA, has repeatedly delayed its review of a Palestinian bid to have Israel suspended from the international arena over its war on Gaza. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it took FIFA only a matter of days to suspend Russian teams from all international football competitions. That highlights the 'double standards' shown towards Palestinian lives, Dima Said, spokesperson for the Palestine Football Association and former captain of Palestine women's national football team, told Al Jazeera. She said seeing Israeli football fans being allowed to shout anti-Palestinian chants without punishment around Europe is 'as a Palestinian athlete … one of the hardest things to watch'. 'For me to see that those people who publicly support genocide, who publicly advocate for children to be killed, is something that's very harmful for me as a human being, first, but secondly, as a Palestinian, it should not be allowed,' she said. She also pointed to the fact that more than 200 Palestinian footballers have been killed since Israel's war on Gaza began. On Wednesday, the former Palestinian national football team player, Suleiman al-Obeid, was killed in an Israeli attack on aid seekers in Gaza. Last November, Israeli football fans clashed with apparent pro-Palestinian protesters before and after a Europa League football match between their team, Maccabi Tel Aviv, and Dutch team AFC Ajax in Amsterdam. Videos shared on social media at the time showed Israeli fans chanting racist, anti-Arab songs, vandalising a taxi and burning a Palestinian flag. After the game, when fights broke out, Dutch police arrested people who had retaliated against the Israeli fans, as world leaders made accusations of anti-Semitism. It was an incident that Thomas Ross Griffin, a sports studies scholar and associate professor of postcolonial literature at Qatar University, says demonstrates the impunity with which Israeli fans can act. 'If these were English fans rampaging through the streets, destroying taxis, breaking into property, smashing windows, beating private citizens … there will be condemnation all over Europe, but you attach these fans to an Israeli sporting entity, and suddenly … they're the victims,' he said. Beitar Jerusalem will play their home leg against Riga FC in Romania on August 14.
Al Jazeera
12 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
CAIR urges US to probe the death of father killed in Israeli settler attack
A Muslim American group has sent a letter to the administration of President Donald Trump urging it to investigate the death of United States citizen Khamis Ayyad in a settler attack in the occupied West Bank. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said Ayyad's family has 'no confidence in any investigation conducted by Israeli authorities'. The letter, penned by CAIR and its Chicago chapter, was sent on Wednesday, almost a week after Ayyad's death on July 31. Addressed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Attorney General Pam Bondi, it underscored legal provisions, including the US-Israel Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), that would enable Washington to investigate Ayyad's death. 'The Department of Justice has previously relied on these very statutes to investigate the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel, which killed several Americans. Yet it has failed to apply them when the perpetrators are Israeli,' the letter read. 'This double standard is indefensible and is a CLEAR act of discrimination. American citizenship must not be selectively protected based on the identity or political alliances of the killer.' Ayyad, a Chicago area resident and father of five, was one of two US citizens killed in settler attacks in the West Bank in July. According to Ayyad's family, settlers torched cars outside his home in the town of Silwad, north of Ramallah, last week. Ayyad woke up to put out the fire, but then the Israeli army showed up at the scene and started firing tear gas in his direction. The family believes that Ayyad died from inhaling tear gas and smoke from the burning vehicles. Earlier in July, Israeli settlers also beat to death 20-year-old Sayfollah Musallet, a Florida native, near the West Bank village of Sinjil. The US government has acknowledged Ayyad's death but stopped short of denouncing it or even calling for an investigation. 'We can confirm the death of a US citizen in the town of Silwad in the West Bank,' a US State Department spokesperson told Al Jazeera last week. 'We offer condolences to the family on their loss and are providing consular assistance to them. We condemn criminal violence by any party in the West Bank.' According to CAIR, US officials have not reached out to Ayyad's family. William Asfour, the operations coordinator for CAIR-Chicago, said the State Department's statement shows that 'Palestinian lives are not valued' by the US government. 'This statement from the State Department seems more like formalities than any actual concern,' Asfour told Al Jazeera. 'We want to see direct action. Holding the terrorist settlers accountable is a step in the right direction.' After Israeli soldiers or settlers kill American citizens, the US usually calls on Israel to investigate. But Israel rarely prosecutes anyone for abuses against Palestinians. Rights advocates have long argued that Israel is not equipped to investigate its own crimes. For example, no charges have been brought in the case of Musallet's fatal beating nearly one month later. The CAIR letter stressed that Israel has a 'well-documented and deeply troubling history of distorting facts, fabricating narratives, and systematically exonerating its soldiers and illegal settlers'. Since 2022, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 10 US citizens. None of the cases have resulted in criminal charges. 'The murder of Khamis Ayyad must mark a turning point. The time to stop hiding behind legal technicalities and political convenience is now. Inaction is complicity,' the CAIR letter said. On Monday, Congressman Chuy Garcia, who represents a district in the Chicago area, also called for the US to launch its own probe into Ayyad's death. 'I join his family in urging a full US investigation into the incident and demand the accountability of those involved,' Garcia wrote in a social media post.
