World Cup cheers, Gaza graves: Inside Israel’s war on Palestinian sport
Palestinian goalkeeper Saleem Al-Ashqar who was shot dead by Israeli forces, June 2026
The Palestine Chronicle reports on 2 July 2026:
Five months after getting married, Palestinian goalkeeper Saleem Al-Ashqar was preparing to become a father. This week, he became another name in the long and growing list of Palestinian athletes killed by the Israeli army in Gaza.
The Palestinian Football Association said Al-Ashqar was killed by Israeli army fire, describing him as one of hundreds of Palestinian sporting figures killed since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.
The PFA said more than 1,000 Palestinian athletes have been killed, most of them footballers, while hundreds of sports facilities have been destroyed.
His death prompted grief from relatives, teammates and football supporters around the world. “We deeply mourn the tragic death of 32-year-old Palestinian goalkeeper Salim Al-Ashqar,” Chilean football club Deportivo Palestino said. “He was killed by the Israeli army. We are deeply saddened by the continuation of such events. We call for justice and peace.”
Yet while Palestinian football mourned another goalkeeper, thousands of kilometers away, Palestine’s flag continued to fly across the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Palestinian Sport Counts Its Dead
The killing of Al-Ashqar is not an isolated tragedy. According to Palestinian sporting bodies, Israel’s war has devastated every layer of Palestinian sport: players, coaches, referees, administrators, youth athletes and entire clubs.
A Palestinian Olympic Committee report said that at least 1,007 members of Gaza’s sports community had been killed between October 7, 2023, and February 12, 2026. The report said 962 of those killed were men and 45 were women.
The same report documented 265 damaged sports facilities across the Gaza Strip, including 184 completely destroyed and 81 partially damaged. More recent reporting placed the number of destroyed or damaged sports facilities at around 285.
The Palestinian Football Association has repeatedly warned that football has been among the hardest-hit sectors. Players have been killed in airstrikes, shot by Israeli forces, buried under rubble, or left unable to train, travel or compete.