February 5 – The Palestinian body count in Gaza has now reached over 26,000 with the more than 65,000 civilians injured. The impact has been felt across every human activity in the country, whether in Gaza or the West Bank.
While to isolate and highlight the impact on one section of the Palestinian community feels somewhat trivial in terms of the scale of horrific assault on Gaza by Israel, it also communicates to those in the football world in graphic numbers the complete disrespect the Israelis have for Palestinians and their way of life.
To date 81 players, referees and officials have been killed in Israeli action.
A total of 16 football facilities have been destroyed or damaged in Gaza, including: Beit Hanoun Stadium, Palestine Stadium in Gaza, Beit Lahia Stadium, Al-Yarmouk Stadium, and the FIFA/UNDP pitch in Rafah.
Four football facilities in the West Bank have been damaged: Jenin Club, Jenin Camp Club, Nurshams Camp Club and Qalqilya Club.
This is on top of the atrocities committed (all pictures in this article) in the Al-Yarmouk Stadium where Palestinian males were taken having been indiscriminantly rounded-up, stripped and interrogated. For good measure the Israelis then bulldozered a large part of the stadium that had been a suggested venue for a Palestinian national team game.
In the period October 27, 2023 to January 23, 2024, a total of 26,422 Palestinians, 65% of them women and children, have been killed.
The total injured was 65,087 while 8,000 are reported missing. 120 journalists have been killed.
There are now more than 1.9 million people displace and 55% are facing acute hunger.
These figures were compiled from sources including the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Palestinian government.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734836533labto1734836533ofdlr1734836533owedi1734836533sni@n1734836533osloh1734836533cin.l1734836533uap1734836533
