Football on ruins: Gaza’s orphans find refuge on the pitch
Sixteen-year-old Mohammed Eyad Azzam says he was a “pampered” child before an Israeli air attack in Gaza killed his immediate family, leaving him as the sole provider for his elderly grandmother. Mohammed was at home on the morning of October 11, 2024, with his parents and siblings in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza, when without warning an Israeli warplane struck, bringing his family’s multistorey building down on top of them. “I was sitting safely with my parents and my two older brothers … I was buried under the rubble for about 10 minutes,” Mohammed told Al Jazeera. “It was pure suffering.” Mohammed’s grandmother managed to dig him out of the wreckage of the home, and the next thing he remembers is waking up in his neighbour’s house on a ventilator. “I survived by a miracle,” he said. Relentless Israeli bombing meant Mohammed was unable to give his parents and two brothers a proper funeral at a cemetery, so instead he buried his parents and siblings in a small, makeshift plot of land. Overnight, the teenager was thrust into adulthood, and he now lives amid the thousands of displaced in northern Gaza’s Shati refugee camp, spending his days lighting fires and carrying heavy water containers for his grandmother. “My life flipped from happiness to grief. I used to be pampered, but now I am responsible for everything,” he said. Amid all the challenges, Mohammed has found one escape from his daily turmoil: football. A psychological lifeline Before the war, Mohammed was a promising player for the Khadamat Jabalia football club. However, following Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, the club no longer functioned, pitches were destroyed, and many of his former teammates were killed. Mohammed Eyad Azzam dribbles a football through a displacement camp. The sport has become his only escape after losing his family [Screengrab/Al Jazeera] Yet, against all odds, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) recently organised a tournament for players born in 2009 at one of the last remaining patches of land in Gaza suitable for hosting a football match. Advertisement For Mohammed, lacing up his boots is one of the few ways he can fend off the despair of life without his parents and siblings, but the pitch still brings back haunting memories of what he lost before Israel began its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023. “It removes the boredom and releases our negative energy,” he explained. “Most of my teammates have their brothers and fathers there to motivate and encourage them. I have no one to cheer for me now, I miss them so much – as much as the sea and its fish.” Decimation of Palestinian sports Mohammed’s heartbreak is emblematic of Israel’s systematic destruction of sports infrastructure in Gaza, according to Mustafa Siyam, head of the media department at the Palestinian Football Association in the southern provinces (Gaza Strip). “Mohammed is one of tens of thousands of talented children who have lost their families, their clubs, their academies, and their education,” Siyam told Al Jazeera. The Israeli offensive has destroyed or damaged 265 sports facilities across the Gaza Strip [Screengrab/Al Jazeera] The statistics are staggering. According to the PFA, the Israeli offensive has killed 1,113 people affiliated with the sports sector, including more than 560 football players, coaches and administrators. Additionally, 265 sports facilities have been destroyed or damaged over the past two-and-a-half years, while all 56 football clubs in Gaza – from Beit Hanoon in the north to Rafah in the south – have been severely affected. Mohammed’s club, Khadamat Jabalia, was also destroyed, and the space was temporarily turned into a detention and interrogation centre by Israeli forces during the invasion of Gaza. Deadly commutes to the pitch With main stadiums either bombed into ruins or converted into shelters for displaced families, the PFA is now organising youth tournaments on just three small pitches that remain – Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, Khadamat Nuseirat and Ittihad Shabab Deir al-Balah – but getting to these games is still a life-threatening ordeal for young footballers. Mohammed ties his shoelaces before a match. Players now have to walk several kilometres through rubble to reach the few remaining pitches [Screengrab/Al Jazeera] “We walk 3-4km through tents and rubble to reach the pitch,” Mohammed said. “It drains you psychologically before you even step onto the field.” Siyam acknowledges the grave risks youngsters face when heading to their local pitch, but says their fortitude and love for the sport mean football will endure in Gaza. Advertisement “The security situation remains extremely dangerous. A player walking from his tent to the pitch is exposed to the risk of sudden air strikes, but the determination of the players and the association pushes us to resume activities,” he said. “It sends a message to the world that Palestinian youth are capable of rising from the rubble.” ‘Double standards’ While the football community in Gaza is struggling to survive, Palestinian sports officials have expressed deep frustration with the international community, particularly the governing body of the sport, FIFA, over a lack of support or solidarity. Siyam highlighted glaring double standards when FIFA moved swiftly to suspend Russia and ban its clubs following Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but took no action against Israel. “When it comes to Palestine, unfortunately, there are no decisions; FIFA’s position is very weak,” he said. Despite the targeted killing of prominent athletes, such as national team player Suleiman Obaid, and Israeli settlement clubs competing on occupied Palestinian land, FIFA has failed to impose any sanctions on the Israeli Football Association. With a lack of action from FIFA, the PFA is now seeking justice via international sports tribunals. Honouring a dream While the PFA waits for a permanent ceasefire to rebuild Gaza’s battered sporting infrastructure and for Israel to open the enclave’s borders to allow local talent to join Palestine’s national teams, young players such as Mohammed are clinging to the game to keep their loved ones’ memories alive. Despite the destruction and trauma, Mohammed remains determined to
Iran sends response to US ceasefire proposal via Pakistan
Al Jazeera’s Almigdad Elruhaid reports from Tehran that Iran has sent its response to a US proposal to end the war via mediator Pakistan, according to state news agency IRNA. Tehran has been saying negotiations should focus on ending hostilities, securing guarantees against future attacks and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Published On 10 May 202610 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Iran war live: IRGC warns US against attacks on ships; Israel bombs Lebanon
blinking-dotLive updatesLive updates, US-Iran ceasefire holds as Tehran warns Washington against attacks on tankers and Israel kills 24 people in Lebanon. Published On 10 May 202610 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Satellite images show likely oil slick off Iran’s Kharg Island
NewsFeed Satellite images have captured a suspected oil slick spanning dozens of square kilometres near Iran’s Kharg Island, the country’s main oil export hub. Despite fears of a disaster, environmental observers say the slick is shrinking. Published On 10 May 202610 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
‘No Kings’ protest outside Buckingham Palace
NewsFeed British anti-royals have staged a ‘No Kings’ protest outside Buckingham Palace in London, chanting “Down with the Crown” and calling for an elected head of state. Published On 10 May 202610 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
One dead in US after being struck by taking off Frontier Airlines plane
Authorities say individual jumped fence at Denver International Airport in Colorado before being struck. Published On 9 May 20269 May 2026 A person has died after jumping an airport perimeter fence in the US state of Colorado and being struck by a Frontier Airlines plane, according to authorities. Denver International Airport said the unusual incident occurred late Friday, after the unidentified individual gained access to the tarmac. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list It said the “pedestrian jumped the perimeter fence and was hit just two minutes later while crossing the runway”. A brief engine fire followed the collision, which was put out by emergency responders, according to the airport. It said that 12 of the 231 people on board suffered minor injuries, with five hospitalised. The airport said investigators had examined the fenceline where the individual entered and “found it to be intact”. It added that the struck individual “is not believed to be an employee of the airport”. “We are extremely saddened by this incident and express our sympathies to those involved,” the airport said. Both local authorities and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were investigating the incident. The Frontier Airlines flight had been bound for Los Angeles International Airport. Airport safety in the US came under renewed scrutiny earlier this year amid a prolonged shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which temporarily left both Transportation Security Agents (TSA) and air traffic controllers working without pay. While instances of people being killed on airport tarmacs are rare, Friday’s incident came a day after a Delta employee was killed after an airport vehicle struck an airbridge at Orlando International Airport. Advertisement In March, two pilots were killed after an Air Canada Express plane crashed into a fire-rescue vehicle at LaGuardia Airport in New York. About 225,000 people travel through Denver International Airport a day. Adblock test (Why?)
Israel to release two detained Gaza flotilla activists
Lawyer representing Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Avila tells Al Jazeera they will be ‘released to their home countries’. Published On 9 May 20269 May 2026 Israel is set to release two Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla activists who were abducted by Israeli authorities, a rights group has said. Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish-Palestinian, and Brazilian Thiago Avila will be freed on Saturday, according to a statement from the rights group Adalah, which was representing the two men. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The pair will be handed over to immigration authorities and held in custody pending their deportation. Hadeel Abu Salih, the lawyer who co-represented the pair in Israeli courts, told Al Jazeera that they are “expected to be released to their home countries in the coming days”. Adalah said it is “closely monitoring” the situation to ensure the release goes ahead. Abu Keshek and Avila were among dozens of activists who set sail for Gaza as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters off the coast of Greece. While the other 168 members of the flotilla were taken to Crete and then released, the two were taken to Israel and detained for further questioning. The vessel was part of a humanitarian effort seeking to reach Gaza with aid amid the ongoing war and Israel’s blockade. Abu Salih said their abduction was a “clear violation of international law”. The lawyer said throughout this ordeal, the legal team “argued that this entire process was a sham proceeding with no legal basis, intended to punish them for attempting to challenge Israel’s illegal blockade”. During their detention, Abu Kushek and Avila were “held in total isolation under punitive conditions despite the purely civilian nature of their mission”, Adalah said. Advertisement It added that both activists were on a hunger strike, with Abu Keshek escalating his protest by refusing water since Tuesday. Israeli authorities have been accused of abuse, but they have denied this. On Tuesday, an Israeli court extended their imprisonment until Sunday, despite authorities not filing any charges against the pair, but they faced accusations of being affiliated with “terrorist organisations and foreign agents”, Adalah previously told Al Jazeera. Abu Salih dismissed Israel’s claims, saying that the pair were detained over “baseless accusations and subjected to ill-treatment”. “Israel’s actions in this case, the unlawful interception and abduction, arbitrary detention, and torture, constitute grave violations of international law, enabled by the impunity Israel continues to enjoy,” she said. Adblock test (Why?)
Palestinians run West Bank freedom marathon along separation wall
In the occupied West Bank, a marathon is a political statement. Palestinians ran alongside the separation wall today, a structure that cuts them off from their land, their families, and even the sea. Al Jazeera’s @leila.shw reports from Bethlehem. Published On 9 May 20269 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Pentagon releases video of strikes on Iranian oil tankers
NewsFeed Footage released by the Pentagon shows US strikes on two Iranian oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. The US military says the vessels were disabled following overnight exchanges of fire with Iranian forces, preventing them from reaching ports in the Gulf of Oman. Published On 8 May 20268 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Cambodians struggle with displaced lives amid tense ceasefire with Thailand
Preah Vihear/Siem Reap provinces – When asked how she spends her day, 11-year-old Sokna rattled off a list of chores. She first fetches water, then washes dishes and sweeps the leaves and dust from around the blue tarpaulin tent her family now calls home, in the grounds of a Buddhist pagoda in northwestern Cambodia. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Sokna and her sister have stopped attending school, their mother Puth Reen said, since moving to this camp for people displaced by the recent rounds of fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. The two sisters are among more than 34,440 people who remain in displacement camps in Cambodia – 11,355 of whom are children – as of this month, according to the country’s Ministry of Interior. “I tried to tell them to go to school, but they don’t go,” Puth Reen told Al Jazeera, explaining how precarious life had become since returning to live in Cambodia after fleeing neighbouring Thailand, where she had worked for many years, as the fighting started. Like Puth Reen and her family, the future looks murky for the tens of thousands of Cambodians – including many schoolchildren – who are still in displacement camps, and their lives remain disrupted months after the last outbreak of fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. Forced to flee their homes in areas where local troops are now stationed and on high alert, or in areas occupied by opposing Thai forces, Cambodia’s internally displaced say they are surviving off aid donations, while those more fortunate are transitioning from emergency tents into wooden stilted houses provided by the Cambodian government. But with tension still evident between the leadership in Bangkok and Phnom Penh, the tenuous ceasefire along the Thai-Cambodia border means life cannot yet return to normality. Advertisement Some areas on the Cambodian border, such as the villages of Chouk Chey and Prey Chan in Banteay Meanchey province, have become rallying points for nationalists who post on social media about the Thai occupation of Cambodian territory. Their anger is directed at the large shipping containers and barbed wire that Thai forces have used to block access to villages once inhabited by Cambodians and occupied during fighting. The Thai military-installed containers now form a sort of new frontier between the two countries. The Cambodian military has also prevented people, such as local farmer Sun Reth, 67, from returning to their homes in front-line areas, which are still highly militarised zones, with troops ready at any moment for a new round of fighting. “Now the Cambodian military base is just next to [my house],” Sun Reth said, adding that she was not allowed by authorities to sleep in her modest home or pick cashew nuts from her farm to sell for a little income. Cambodian children more focused on ‘rumours’ of war The long-held border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia erupted into two rounds of conflict last year, over five days in July and almost three weeks in December. Dozens were reported killed on both sides, and hundreds of thousands of civilians fled their homes as both countries’ armed forces fired artillery, rockets, and, in the case of Thailand, conducted air strikes deep into Cambodian territory. Thailand has a modern air force, a military capability not possessed by its smaller neighbour. Cambodian and Thai officials reached a ceasefire on December 27, but the situation remains tense five months on. For families who fled the fighting, school continues for most children in the displacement camps, but parents say education is fragmented while their lives are still so unsettled. Mothers at the Wat Bak Kam camp for the displaced in Preah Vihear province told Al Jazeera that primary school students can join classes at a local school, but high school students need to travel daily to the provincial capital, about 15km (9 miles) away. Families living temporarily at the Wat Bak Kam internal displacement camp sit outside their tents, supplied by Chinese government aid [Roun Ry/Al Jazeera] Now the rising cost of petrol, due to the US-Israel war on Iran, has made it even harder for teenaged students, who have access to motorcycles, to make the journey to school. Kinmai Phum, technical lead for WorldVision’s education programme, which is providing support to the camps, said school dropout rates and children skipping classes have increased substantially among students from the displaced border regions. Advertisement Kinmai Phum said the situation is a perfect storm of problems: Displaced families have been forced to move around for shelters, schools and temporary learning spaces lack facilities, and some students have psychological trauma due to the conflict. “Local authorities [are] concerned that many children may not return to school at all if displacement and economic hardship persist,” Kinmai Phum said. Puth Reen, left, and her three daughters sit inside their tent in a camp for the displaced at Wat Chroy Neang Ngourn in Siem Reap province [Roun Ry/Al Jazeera] Yuon Phally, a mother of two, said she had noticed the impact of the war on her daughter and son, who are in their first and third years in primary school. When they return from school, Yuon Phally said, they tell her about rumours they had heard about Cambodia and Thailand resuming fighting. “Their feeling is not fully focused on school; they focus more on these rumours,” she said. Her children’s world was more impacted by the conflict because their father is a soldier stationed in the Mom Bei area of the border. During the fighting in December, Yuon Phally said she could not convince her children to go to school because they all waited to see if their father would call on a mobile phone from the front line. “I couldn’t hold back my tears, and that added more pressure onto my kids,” she said. “They would ask about their dad and how he is doing now. Then they told me to eat rice. They understood my feelings.” She said her children’s focus on their studies only improved after their father