On what remains of the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, 24-year-old Ali Tafesh chases a ball on wooden crutches alongside his teammates from Gaza Al-Irada (Gaza Willpower), a football club for amputee players.
The stadium is a world away from the grand arenas hosting the 2026 World Cup in North America starting Thursday. But for Ali and his team, it is one of the few usable sports spaces left in Gaza after Israel's war, which has killed nearly 73,000 Palestinians.
The players cling to football as a means of survival rather than mere sport. They strive to reclaim fragments of their former lives despite months of loss, injury, and widespread destruction.
Just four years ago, Ali watched the World Cup in Qatar with friends at a Gaza café, surrounded by a festive atmosphere he still recalls vividly. Today, as the world prepares for a new World Cup, he is among thousands of war survivors who have lost limbs, including hundreds of athletes.
“In 2022, everyone supported a team; the atmosphere was beautiful,” Ali told Al Jazeera. “Today, the situation in Gaza is extremely difficult. We could be bombed and die at any moment.”
In February 2024, months after Israel's war began, his family home in the Zeitoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City, was struck, killing his mother and brother, while doctors were forced to amputate one of his legs. After months of painful treatment and adapting to disability, Ali learned about Gaza Al-Irada through friends who had also undergone amputations. A former sprinter who competed in local championships, the law graduate sought a different athletic path.
“After my leg was amputated, I lost hope in life. I was a champion. I had medals… Friends playing at Gaza Al-Irada visited me. I asked if I could join, and they welcomed me,” said Ali, who started playing football about six months ago.
Now, as the rest of the world focuses on watching top footballers compete in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, Ali feels Gaza exists in a parallel world — cut off not only by war but also by a lack of basic sports needs and infrastructure. “There is no transportation. I have to walk more than two hours on crutches to reach the field. There are no crutches, no sports shoes, and many other necessary safety items are unavailable,” he added. “We play with the very little that is available and try to rebuild football with our simple means.”
