The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) said Gaza Sports Club captain Mahmoud Kamal Fares Abdel-Malek, 20, was killed in a Gaza City strike Tuesday, taking its count of sports-related deaths in Gaza to 1,017.
Al Jazeera reported that the strike was Israeli. The association identified him as a target of Tuesday's attack in Gaza City's southern Sabra neighborhood. He was the club's goalkeeper as well as its captain.
Al Jazeera reported that Abdel-Malek played in the Gaza and Northern Gaza division final of the Thousand Martyrs Cup five days earlier, where his club finished second. More than 200 clubs took part across Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, with events running concurrently in all three locations, the outlet said.
In August, Palestinian Sports Media Federation Secretary-General Mustafa Siam told the Anadolu news agency that Gaza had lost more than 50 of its 56 sports clubs and about 20 fields used for five-a-side football. Siam described the combined effects on Palestinian sport as an “existential” crisis.
