‘Palestinian Pele’ Suleiman al-Obeid killed while seeking aid in Gaza

Al-Obeid was known as the ‘Pele of Palestinian football’ and became one of its brightest stars.

Palestinian national football team player Suleiman al-Obeid has been killed in an Israeli attack on aid seekers in Gaza.

Al-Obeid, 41, was killed on Wednesday when Israeli forces attacked people waiting near an aid distribution centre in southern Gaza, the Palestinian Football Association said.

He was nicknamed the “Pele of Palestinian football” – after the Brazilian professional footballer widely regarded as one of the best football players of all time.

During his long career, the Gaza player scored more than 100 goals, making him one of the brightest stars of Palestinian football.

“Former national team player and star of the Khadamat al-Shati team, Suleiman Al-Obeid, was martyred after the [Israeli] occupation forces targeted those waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday,” the Palestinian Football Association said in a statement.

The former football star began his career with the Khadamat al-Shati club in Gaza, before joining the ranks of the Al-Amari Youth Center Club in the occupied West Bank.

At the international level, al-Obeid played 24 international matches with Al-Fida’i, scoring two goals, the most famous of which was a scissor kick goal against the Yemeni national team during the 2010 West Asian Football Federation Championship.

The football star leaves behind a wife and five children.

More than 1,300 Palestinians have been killed near aid distribution sites run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation since it began operations in late May.

At least 18 people were killed while seeking aid on Wednesday, medical sources told media, amid a growing hunger crisis in the territory as Israel continues to impose severe restrictions on supplies of humanitarian aid.

Gaza’s hospitals, meanwhile, have recorded four new deaths due to famine and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health, raising the total number of hunger-related deaths to 197, including 96 children, since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023. Most of the deaths have been in recent weeks.