A football match played out on a makeshift pitch in southern Gaza on Saturday, with players from Gaza City and Rafah facing off in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis, surrounded by tents housing displaced families and buildings reduced to rubble by Israeli strikes.
Dozens of Palestinians gathered to watch, with some women and children climbing onto the roofs of damaged buildings nearby for a better vantage point, as organisers sought to offer a brief respite from the daily hardships of life during the ongoing conflict.
The match was arranged by Yunus Abu Sahloul after both teams approached him having been forced from their home grounds, with much of Gaza's football infrastructure destroyed and players now largely dependent on open, sandy spaces instead of proper pitches.
"We wanted to bring a little joy to the people," Abu Sahloul said to Daily Sabah, framing the game as a chance for displaced Palestinians to reclaim a small piece of normal life, even briefly, amid conditions he described as otherwise defined by destruction and upheaval.
He called on football bodies, including FIFA, the Arab Football Association and the Arab League, to support efforts to rebuild Gaza's sporting infrastructure and help revive organised football activity across the territory in the months ahead.
Ahmed al Lulahi, a player for Rafah City Stars, said the friendly offered the squad a rare outlet for pent up energy built up during the war, while giving spectators a brief escape from the surrounding devastation.
"For us, the match gave us renewed hope," he said.
Palestinian football has returned only gradually since the war began. In March, the first official five a side tournament since the conflict started was held at three surviving fields, while a wider 244 club competition, the Thousand Martyrs Cup, launched in September across the West Bank, Gaza and refugee camps in Lebanon.
That tournament was named in memory of Palestinian athletes killed during the war, with the Palestinian Sports Media Association saying more than 1,000 athletes, including players, coaches and referees, have died, alongside the destruction of 285 sports facilities and fields across Gaza.
A ceasefire has technically been in place in Gaza since October 2025, though Israeli strikes in the territory have continued regardless. Palestinian sources say more than 74,000 people have been killed and over 175,000 wounded since the war began in October 2023.