RAMALLAH, (PIC)
According to Secretary General of the Palestinian Sports Media Association (PSMA) Mustafa Siyam, over 300 athletes, referees and sports officials have been killed since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza on October 7, 2023.
Siyam explained in a statement on Sunday that most of the sports martyrs were juniors affiliated with sports academies.
He stated that the last martyr was the goalkeeper of the Shabab Khan Yunis Football Club, Shadi Abu Al-Araj.
90 Palestinians, including Abu Al-Araj, were martyred and 300 others were injured, including dozens of children and women, as a result of Israeli airstrikes on the displaced tents in Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza Strip.
Siyam stressed that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) directly targeted the Palestinian sports movement, whether by assassinating or arresting Palestinian athletes, restricting their movement, or destroying sports infrastructure and other aggressive practices.
The PSMA media official said that 90% of the sports facilities in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed and vandalized since the beginning of the Israeli genocide war on Gaza, pointing out that the Palestinian Football Association addressed the international and continental federations regarding the Israeli crimes against the sports movement, stressing the need to take punitive steps against Israel.
Since October 7, 2023, the IOF has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip with US support, leaving nearly 127,000 Palestinians martyred and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of dozens of children.
