Football on ruins: Gaza’s orphans find refuge on the pitch | Conflict

Sixteen-year-old Mohammed Eyad Azzam says he was a “pampered” child before an Israeli air attack in Gaza killed his immediate family,  leaving him as the sole provider for his elderly grandmother.

Mohammed was at home on the morning of October 11, 2024, with his parents and siblings in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza, when without warning an Israeli warplane struck, bringing his family’s multistorey building down on top of them.

“I was sitting safely with my parents and my two older brothers … I was buried under the rubble for about 10 minutes,” Mohammed told Al Jazeera. “It was pure suffering.”

Mohammed’s grandmother managed to dig him out of the wreckage of the home, and the next thing he remembers is waking up in his neighbour’s house on a ventilator. “I survived by a miracle,” he said.

Relentless Israeli bombing meant Mohammed was unable to give his parents and two brothers a proper funeral at a cemetery, so instead he buried his parents and siblings in a small, makeshift plot of land.

Overnight, the teenager was thrust into adulthood, and he now lives amid the thousands of displaced in northern Gaza’s Shati refugee camp, spending his days lighting fires and carrying heavy water containers for his grandmother.

“My life flipped from happiness to grief. I used to be pampered, but now I am responsible for everything,” he said.

Amid all the challenges, Mohammed has found one escape from his daily turmoil: football.

A psychological lifeline

Before the war, Mohammed was a promising player for the Khadamat Jabalia football club. However, following Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, the club no longer functioned, pitches were destroyed, and many of his former teammates were killed.

Yet, against all odds, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) recently organised a tournament for players born in 2009 at one of the last remaining patches of land in Gaza suitable for hosting a football match.

For Mohammed, lacing up his boots is one of the few ways he can fend off the despair of life without his parents and siblings, but the pitch still brings back haunting memories of what he lost before Israel began its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.

“It removes the boredom and releases our negative energy,” he explained.

“Most of my teammates have their brothers and fathers there to motivate and encourage them. I have no one to cheer for me now, I miss them so much – as much as the sea and its fish.”

Decimation of Palestinian sports

Mohammed’s heartbreak is emblematic of Israel’s systematic destruction of sports infrastructure in Gaza, according to Mustafa Siyam, head of the media department at the Palestinian Football Association in the enclave’s southern provinces.

“Mohammed is one of tens of thousands of talented children who have lost their families, their clubs, their academies, and their education,” Siyam told Al Jazeera.

The statistics are staggering. According to the PFA, the Israeli offensive has killed 1,113 people affiliated with the sports sector, including more than 560 football players, coaches and administrators.

Additionally, 265 sports facilities have been destroyed or damaged over the past two-and-a-half years, while all 56 football clubs in Gaza – from Beit Hanoon in the north to Rafah in the south – have been severely affected.

Mohammed’s club, Khadamat Jabalia, was also destroyed, and the space was temporarily turned into a detention and interrogation centre by Israeli forces during the invasion of Gaza.

Deadly commutes to the pitch

With main stadiums either bombed into ruins or converted into shelters for displaced families, the PFA is now organising youth tournaments on just three small pitches that remain – Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, Khadamat Nuseirat and Ittihad Shabab Deir al-Balah – but getting to these games is still a life-threatening ordeal for young footballers.

“We walk 3-4km through tents and rubble to reach the pitch,” Mohammed said. “It drains you psychologically before you even step onto the field.”

Siyam acknowledges the grave risks youngsters face when heading to their local pitch, but says their fortitude and love for the sport mean football will endure in Gaza.

“The security situation remains extremely dangerous. A player walking from his tent to the pitch is exposed to the risk of sudden air strikes, but the determination of the players and the association pushes us to resume activities,” he said. “It sends a message to the world that Palestinian youth are capable of rising from the rubble.”

‘Double standards’

While the football community in Gaza is struggling to survive, Palestinian sports officials have expressed deep frustration with the international community, particularly the governing body of the sport, FIFA, over a lack of support or solidarity.

Siyam highlighted glaring double standards when FIFA moved swiftly to suspend Russia and ban its clubs following Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but took no action against Israel.

“When it comes to Palestine, unfortunately, there are no decisions; FIFA’s position is very weak,” he said.

Despite the targeted killing of prominent athletes, such as national team player Suleiman Obaid, and Israeli settlement clubs competing on occupied Palestinian land, FIFA has failed to impose any sanctions on the Israeli Football Association.

With a lack of action from FIFA, the PFA is now seeking justice via international sports tribunals.

Honouring a dream

While the PFA waits for a permanent ceasefire to rebuild Gaza’s battered sporting infrastructure and for Israel to open the enclave’s borders to allow local talent to join Palestine’s national teams, young players such as Mohammed are clinging to the game to keep their loved ones’ memories alive.

“I could never have imagined reaching a point where I am entirely alone,” Mohammed added, saying that stepping onto the dirt pitch helps keep his father’s legacy alive.

“My dream now is to become a famous, professional football player,” the 16-year-old said softly. “Because that was my dream, and it was the dream of my mother and my father, may God have mercy on them. My dad is the one who registered me in the club, and my mom was the one who always cheered me on.”