Football on ruins: orphans from Gaza find shelter on the field | Conflict

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

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

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

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

Due to relentless Israeli bombing, Mohammed was unable to give his parents and two brothers a proper burial in a cemetery. Instead, he buried his parents and siblings in a small, makeshift plot of land.

Overnight, the teenager grew up and now lives among the thousands of displaced people in the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza. He spends his days lighting fires and carrying heavy water containers for his grandmother.

“My life changed from happiness to sadness. 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 football club Khadamat Jabalia. However, after Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza, the club ceased to function, fields were destroyed and many of his former teammates were killed.

But against all odds, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) recently organized a tournament for players born in 2009 on one of the last remaining pieces of land in Gaza suitable for hosting a football match.

For Mohammed, tying his boots is one of the few ways he can ward off the despair of life without his parents and siblings, but the field still brings back terrifying memories of what he lost before Israel launched its genocidal war against Gaza in October 2023.

“It takes away 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 Gaza’s sports infrastructure, said Mustafa Siyam, head of the media department of the Palestinian Football Association in the Southern Provinces (Gaza Strip).

“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 linked to the sports sector, including more than 560 football players, coaches and administrators.

In addition, 265 sports facilities have been destroyed or damaged in 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 converted into a detention and interrogation center by Israeli forces during the invasion of Gaza.

Deadly shuttles to the field

With its main stadiums bombed into ruins or converted into shelters for displaced families, the PFA now organizes youth tournaments on just three small fields left – Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, Khadamat Nuseirat and Ittihad Shabab Deir al-Balah – but attending these matches is still a life-threatening ordeal for young footballers.

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

Siyam acknowledges the serious risks young people face when they go to their local pitch, but says their steadfastness and love for the sport will ensure that football will continue to exist in Gaza.

“The security situation remains extremely dangerous. A player walking from his tent to the field is exposed to the risk of sudden air strikes, but the determination of the players and the association forces 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’

As Gaza’s football community struggles to survive, Palestinian sports officials have expressed deep frustration with the international community, especially the sport’s governing body, FIFA, over a lack of support or solidarity.

Siyam highlighted blatant double standards when FIFA moved quickly 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 killings of prominent athletes, such as national team player Suleiman Obaid, and clubs from Israeli settlements competing on occupied Palestinian territory, FIFA has failed to impose sanctions on the Israel Football Association.

Due to FIFA’s lack of action, the PFA is now seeking justice through international sports tribunals.

Honoring a dream

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

“I never imagined that I would reach a point where I would be completely alone,” Mohammed added, saying that taking to the dirt field helps keep his father’s legacy alive.

“My dream now is to become a famous professional footballer,” the 16-year-old said softly. “Because that was my dream, and it was my mother and my father’s dream, may God have mercy on them. My father is the one who enrolled me in the club, and my mother was the one who always encouraged me.”