How a soccer program in Gaza heals wounds

When Mohammed Abu Saman, wounded by an Israeli sniper during a protest at Gaza’s border, was told that doctors must amputate his leg, his thoughts went to sports.

“The first thing that came to mind was: How can I ever play football again?” he recalls.

He had already gone through six months of medical interventions, even a trip to Turkey, to try to save his leg and avoid what he called “the inevitable.”

Soccer had been both a passion and an identity for the star goalkeeper for his team in the Gaza Strip’s Jabalia refugee camp, his main outlet while living under a stifling Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory.  

“I went to protest to call for my right of return to my homeland,” the 26-year-old says. “I never imagined I would end up disabled at a young age.”

After the amputation, he spiraled into depression, refusing to see friends or even leave the house. “I felt that I was useless, with no purpose in life,” he says.

Until one day two years ago, a friend came to his house and urged him to come to a picnic.

But rather than the seashore or an outdoor picnic spot, their destination was a soccer field. Mr. Abu Saman demanded to return home, but his friends insisted he enter. What he discovered became a turning point in his life: a soccer camp for amputee players.

“I was astonished to see amputees just like me, but they were playing and laughing in joy and fun,” says Mr. Abu Saman, who now darts and dashes across the pitch for the Al Salem team in North Gaza.

His experience is not unique. In the Gaza Strip, amputee football is gaining ground both as an outlet for healing and a showcase for Gazan athletes’ perseverance and skill in the face of staggering challenges.

In four years, the promotion of amputee football by the International Committee of the Red Cross has offered both a lifeline and an opportunity for the hundreds of Gazans who have lost limbs due to violent conflict. The program teaches a transformative lesson: Even if war interrupts life, passion and drive do not have to be a casualty; they can still flourish.

The local athletes’ perseverance and grit are on display at Gaza’s first-ever amputee football tournament this summer.

The tournament, which runs through July, includes five teams from across Gaza’s five governorates – Rafah, Khan Younis, Gaza City, Deir al Balah, and North Gaza – who are facing off in a series of matches organized by the Palestine Amputee Football Association and the ICRC.

It is the culmination of a program started by the ICRC in 2019 to provide amputee footballers training to adapt and improve their skills – and overcome fears.

“Football has become a lifeline for them, a field where they can find themselves,” Al Salem coach Tareq Hamada says during a match in a roofed fieldhouse in June.

Beneath the statistics and the win-loss column, though, the real progress officials chart in the tournament are players’ interactions, independence, and engagement.

Naman Abu Shamlla, deputy secretary-general of the Palestine Amputee Football Association, says the tournament is helping amputees integrate back into society – and take center stage, showcasing their abilities to their friends, families, and attendees.

“We feel proud of our players who play in highly competitive matches after long hours of training,” Mr. Abu Shamlla says on the sidelines of the match. “Their determination and perseverance are a true inspiration to younger generations.”

Finding a new drive

One such inspirational player is Ibrahim Madi, a 31-year-old star striker for the Al Salem Al Kheira team.

In the warmup to the match, he bounds with energy on the hardwood pitch. Within minutes of the match’s opening, he drives down the field and scores a goal.

Being called a “star player” was unthinkable three years ago when he was one of 155 young men and women who lost limbs from the Israeli military’s violent put-downs of a series of Right of Return rallies from March 2018 to March 2019 at the Gaza border, as documented by the World Health Organization and Israeli NGO B’Tselem.

“I used to be crazy about swimming and football – I was an excellent striker with my local team for 10 years before my injury,” Mr. Madi says after the match, a 1-0 Al Salem victory over Al Jazeera.

“But then my leg amputation darkened my life. I was convinced I would never play football again.” When his friends introduced him to the recently formed amputee football league, he found a new drive. 

“I insisted to myself that it is never over,” he recalls. “It was time to get out on the pitch.”

Mr. Madi spent months training to get accustomed to moving on crutches, and learned how to score without his prosthesis.

With each match, Mr. Madi says amputee football has made him more confident, more outgoing – and more motivated to get better.

“My friends and family were happy to see me determined to play this beautiful game again,” he recounts. “I started getting more keen to play and play better.”

He is now a player for the recently formed Palestinian national amputee football team, which, thanks to the ICRC, had a chance to travel to Iran this year to play in the West Asian qualifiers for the Amputee Football World Cup. The Palestinian team faced off against amputee football players from other countries for the very first time, winning a match against India.

“It was such a unique experience. We were delighted to meet other amputee players,” Mr. Madi says, adding that he was “inspired” by the atmosphere of the international match.

Although the Palestinian national team did not qualify for the World Cup, Mr. Madi says he now dreams of having more chances to play internationally to “raise the flag of Palestine.”

Mousa Abdallah, a referee in amputee football in Gaza, says it has been “great fun” for him to watch the players grow.

“We are strict with them; we do not want players to feel that we pity them. We aim to have stars who play well and abide by the rules,” Mr. Abdallah notes.

Life lessons

But the impacts of the matches go far beyond the field for Mr. Abu Saman and Mr. Madi.

Discarding his isolation, Mr. Abu Saman says being able to show off on the football field has given him the confidence to be “the first one at the party.

“I go with my crutches everywhere; I’m no longer declining my friends’ invitations,” he says. “I have learned to enjoy myself during celebrations and family events.”

Mr. Madi, meanwhile, says his on-field heroics and the ability to prove and improve himself have helped prepare him to become a father.

“I am now awaiting my first son,” he says. “I am so happy to do something that my son can be proud of.”

Coaches and players in Gaza have received training by Simon Baker, a renowned Irish coach and general secretary of the European Amputee Football Federation, on two separate visits to the coastal territory.

However, certain challenges are impeding the growth of amputee football in Gaza. Despite the presence of an estimated 1,765 amputees in Gaza, equipment is limited.

“We do not have a sufficient number of well-equipped football fields. We hope to engage all young amputees in football sport, but the shortage of financial aid means that we can only reach a small number of them,” notes Mr. Abu Shamlla, of the football association.  

The Israeli closure imposed on the coastal enclave prevents exchanges with other Arab amputee squads, such as in neighboring Jordan.

But players like Mr. Madi hope the local matches are just the beginning.

“Me and my friends still have a lot more to give to amputee football,” Mr. Madi says, adding, “My wish is that we will never be marginalized or overlooked again.”