GAZA CITY (The Thursday Times) — Mahmoud Kamal Abdel Malek, a 20-year-old goalkeeper for Gaza Sports Club, has been killed in an Israeli strike on Gaza City, the Palestinian Football Association said, days after he played in a tournament named for the athletes killed in the war.
The association said the first-team goalkeeper was killed on Tuesday evening in a strike on Maghrabi Street in the Sabra neighbourhood, in the south of Gaza City. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
His club mourned him and said he had helped the team finish runner-up in the Gaza and northern branch of the Thousand Martyrs Cup, the first organised Palestinian club competition in about three years.
A toll of 1,017
The association said his death took the number of Palestinian sports figures killed since October 2023 to 1,017, a count that includes players, coaches, referees, and administrators. The figures have not been independently verified.
The Thousand Martyrs Cup was named for the 1,014 athletes the association said had been killed by the end of August. It opened on 4 September with 244 clubs from the West Bank, Gaza, and Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, and runs as three cups: a central cup around Jerusalem and separate competitions in Gaza and Lebanon.
Its opening matches were played at the same time on three grounds: Jabal Al-Mukaber against Shabab Al-Khalil at the Faisal Al-Husseini Stadium in Al-Ram, Khadamat Rafah against Shabab Rafah in Deir al-Balah, and Ansar against Nahda at the Ain al-Hilweh camp in Lebanon.
Football amid the ruins
The association also said a 15-year-old boy was killed by Israeli fire on 6 November while playing football with friends in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis.
Football in Gaza is now often played on patched-up pitches ringed by rubble. The deaths come as storms batter the territory and displaced families wait for tents, with the Gulf among those sending winter shelter.
