Palestine sets sights on FIFA World Cup 2026 despite Israel’s war on Gaza
Israel’s war on Gaza and restrictions in the occupied West Bank have ‘paralysed everything’, say Palestinian football officials.
Palestine’s quest to qualify for their first FIFA World Cup underlines the team’s determination to overcome the devastation caused by Israel’s war on Gaza, the president of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) has said.
The PFA have faced obstacles to on-field success that few other national teams have come up against, even before the latest Israeli military offensive on Gaza launched on October 7, 2023 following Hamas’s attacks on Israel’s southern border.
Coach Makram Daboub and his squad, however, have confounded the odds and retain a chance of representing Palestine at the 2026 finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
“The restrictions on our movement, the suffocating policies by the Israelis have paralysed everything,” PFA President Jibril Rajoub said in an interview with the Reuters news agency.
“We suspended everything, including the national league, but in spite of this we have insisted on continuing our participation in competitions, and that includes the World Cup qualification.
“We have a real problem because we could not bring any athletes from Gaza, and tens of them have lost their lives. In Gaza all sport facilities have been destroyed, including most of the clubs, the stadiums and everything are destroyed. “In the West Bank, they are suffocating us, we cannot do anything. But this is our determination, our commitment.”
Israeli military’s attacks against Palestinians have also surged in the occupied West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza and have killed at least 747 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials.
In October, the United Nations said Israeli forces had killed 165 children in the occupied West Bank over the past year.
