Gaza al-Irada players during team training. (Photo send by Gaza al-Irada)
The only operational football field in Khan Younis that wasn’t destroyed by Israel’s three-year onslaught on Gaza is only half a kilometer away from the “Yellow Line.” Still flushed from the bus ride there, the Gaza Hope amputee football team players gather under the blazing sun, in taped-up sneakers and crutches. They are among 60,000 amputees who now live in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, between 5,000 and 6,000 of whom underwent amputations after the cease-fire came into effect in October 2025, the World Health Organization estimated.As the team members kick off their training, they’re interrupted by gunfire shot from the nearby Israeli military post into the trees around them. The players all fall to the floor, careful to protect their heads, as they wait for the attack to be over.“We’re used to it,” team Captain Abdallah...
The only operational football field in Khan Younis that wasn’t destroyed by Israel’s three-year onslaught on Gaza is only half a kilometer away from the “Yellow Line.” Still flushed from the bus ride there, the Gaza Hope amputee football team players gather under the blazing sun, in taped-up sneakers and crutches. They are among 60,000 amputees who now live in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, between 5,000 and 6,000 of whom underwent amputations after the cease-fire came into effect in October 2025, the World Health Organization estimated.As the team members kick off their training, they’re interrupted by gunfire shot from the nearby Israeli military post into the trees around them. The players all fall to the floor, careful to protect their heads, as they wait for the attack to be over.“We’re used to it,”...
Hacking Lebanese Politics #36: Is Lebanon about to abolish the death penalty?
Middle East war: Latest developments
