Palestinian footballer Mohammed Barakat Ahmed Bastamy was killed on Tuesday following an Israeli Airstrike on the southern strip of Gaza.
The 39-year-old hailed from Khan Yunis City in Gaza and was known as the ‘Legend of Khan Yunis’. He lost his life after he was targeted during a raid in the Southern strip of Gaza by the Israeli forces.
Barakat represented the national football team of Palestine three times. He became the first player to score a century of goals in Gaza.
In the local leagues, he represented the famous club Al Wehdat in Jordan and the Saudi Arabian Al Shoala football club during his career.
The Palestinian forward was still playing in the Gaza Premier League and he scored his last goal for Ahli Gaza in a 1-1 draw against Itihad Shojaeyya at the Yarmouk Stadium on 18 August, 2023.
Around 158 sports persons have been killed in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Palestine conflict, 91 of whom were footballers.
During the AFC Asian Cup, Palestine forward Mahmoud Wadi shared the mental and emotional struggles the players had to go through away from their homes following Palestine’s historic achievement of qualifying for the Asian Cup knockout stages for the first time.
Wadi revealed that his brother suddenly disappeared and no one in his family knew anything about him for 10 hours due to a total communication blackout and that is the kind of stress the players went through in that tournament.
On October 7, the Palestinian group, Hamas, attacked the Israeli forces in a cross-border conflict and since then Israel has started a full-throttle deadly attack on the Gaza Strip, killing thousands of people, including women and children.
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