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On International Day for People with Disabilities, Palestine’s first-ever amputee football team was launched in Gaza City on Friday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross helps the Palestine Amputee Football Association’s national squad (ICRC). The squad of twenty is made up of young Palestinians who have suffered body parts loss in previous wars with Israel or in accidents.
The team intends to compete in next year’s Amputee Football World Cup, which will be held in Turkey.
Ahmed Alkhodari, 23, lost his leg around three years ago in March 2019 during the Great March of Return. Large numbers of Palestinians were killed and tens of thousands injured by Israeli gunfire as they attempted to cross the fence, demanding their right to return to towns and villages within Israel where their forefathers were ethnically cleansed in 1948. At least 156 of the injured required amputations.
Alkhodari told the media that he wants to compete in tournaments outside the Palestinian enclave, which is home to nearly 2 million people and has been under Israeli blockade for nearly 15 years, and that his selection to the national team has given his life “value.”
He is confident that the team will compete successfully in international championships held throughout the world. The team is aiming to represent Palestine at the 2022 World Cup, which will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, in March.
Ibrahim Madi, 30, expressed his excitement about joining the team.
“It means a great deal to me to be here. It paid for all the mental and bodily anguish I endured following the loss of my leg,” he told media.
Madi recalled “the most dismal days of his life” – the time following an Israeli soldier’s bullet wound to his leg during a border demonstration in Gaza in 2018.
“I spent 11 days in excruciating pain in the hospital,” he explained. “Doctors then determined that my leg needed to be amputated.”
The amputation severely impacted madi’s life until he learned about the amputees’ football team.