JABALIA, Palestine: In a makeshift stadium in the war-torn Gaza Strip, young players and goalkeepers blocked the noisy crowd and focused solely on their football as they faced off.
The referee blew his whistle and the penalty taker scored a makeshift goal, sparking wild celebrations as the crowd surrounded him.
For fans and players, Tuesday's match at the Jabaliya refugee camp was a welcome respite from the hunger and exhaustion they endured during nearly 300 days of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Referee Rami Mustafa Abu Hashish told AFP that football had helped “rehabilitate” the situation in Jabaliya, which had been hit by Israeli attacks and fighting that had destroyed schools, stadiums and homes and left families with multiple lives lost.
In the schoolyard turned shelter, two teams compete for a trophy that one player says he salvaged from the rubble.
The game created a festive atmosphere, with spectators pulling up chairs and leaning over the railings of the three-story building to cheer.
A group of boys squeezed into the empty bed of a pickup truck to get a better view.
“We will play when we are hungry and thirsty. We will compete because we love life,” one child’s sign reads in both English and Arabic.
Jabaliya came under particularly heavy attack in an Israeli offensive launched in May as part of a broader offensive across the northern Gaza Strip, an area the military has said is outside the control of the Hamas terrorist group.
As fighting rages, humanitarian agencies struggle to deliver aid and warn of looming famine
Villagers told AFP that there is almost no food left in the north and that what little they do get comes at a huge cost.
For footballers, the competition is a rare opportunity amid concerns over food and water shortages.
They have been unable to play since the war broke out on October 7, triggered by Hamas attacks that killed 1,197 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
The militants are also holding another 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in the Gaza Strip, with the military saying 44 people have been killed.
Israeli retaliation has killed at least 39,145 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled areas.
“Since the war in Gaza, we have been away from sports because the clubs and playgrounds were destroyed. But today, we are building something out of nothing,” said Saif Abu Saif, one of the players.
Gaza's education ministry says 85 percent of schools in the area are out of service because of the war.
Many have been converted into shelters for those displaced by the war, as the 2.4 million people in the besieged areas have been repeatedly uprooted.
Coach Wael Abu Saif said he was determined to attend Tuesday's game despite still feeling pain from the injuries he sustained in February. He is now in a wheelchair and says he has lost the use of both his legs.
“I have loved football since I was a kid. I love the competition, I love playing,” he told AFP.
“I want to prove to the world that we will continue to move forward with our most basic right, which is to play football.”
