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Virtual Visit with Gaza Al-Irada Football Club Amputee Team
As the world watched the 2026 FIFA World Cup (and saw Egypt robbed of its win against Argentina), members of Gaza Al-Irada (“Gaza Will”) Football Club watched along side us while creating a far more valiant football story.
Made up of amputee players who lost their limbs due to Israel’s successive wars on Gaza, the team trains amidst the ruins of the ongoing genocide.
They play despite the lack of food, water, and electricity. They play through unimaginable loss and multiple displacements. They play despite the devastated sports infrastructure, often relying on crutches instead of prosthetics and practicing on one of the few remaining playable fields.
Founded by Mohammed Hatem Taher Aliwa to ensure that Palestinians who have lost limbs still have the opportunity to play the game they love, Gaza Al- Irada is driven by a simple but powerful belief: disability should never mean the end of sport or ambition. The players are not asking for sympathy; they are asking to be recognized as athletes and given the resources to compete and thrive.
For Gaza Al-Irada, football is more than a game; it is an act of resistance and hope. Their coaches and players speak of football as a way to preserve dignity, rebuild community, and imagine a future beyond survival.
“Football has been part of my life since I was a child; it was my life and soul. On 9 September 2018, I participated in the Great March of Return protests and was shot in my right leg by Israeli occupation forces. When I was shot, I entered a coma for a few days, and when I woke up, I didn’t find my leg […] I proved to myself that losing my leg would not stop me from playing football.”
– Mohammed Aliwa, Team Founder (Source: Palestine Deep Dive)