Palestine football star Barakat killed in Israel's war on Gaza

During the ongoing Gaza war, Palestinian football star Mohammed Barakat has been killed when an Israeli bomb went off in his Khan Younis home.  

On Monday, the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the Barakat family's home was attacked by Israeli bombs early in the day. 

Barakat, one of Gaza's greatest scorers and the first goal centurion, played for both the Ahly Gaza football club in the local league and the national squad, for which he had three appearances.  

During his lengthy tenure with the Khan Younis Youth Club, which he led, the 39-year-old scored 114 goals and earned the nickname "the legend of Khan Younis." The forward, who was also part of a generation of two-way footballing sides playing both beach and pitch football, played for several clubs in the occupied West Bank and Jordan, including Al-Wehdat, as well as Saudi club Al-Shoala. 

Barakat kept performing when it mattered, and his last goal was in a 1-1 draw against the Shujayea Club at Yarmouk Stadium in Gaza City on August 18 in matchweek two of the Palestinian Premier League. 

His death was called a “huge loss for Palestinian football” by Khalid Abu-Habel, a local club footballer. 

“I played against him,” Abu-Habel, a defender for Khadamat al-Maghazi, told news reporters hours after the legendary striker’s death was confirmed. 

“He was quick and clever. A top goal scorer. Off the pitch, he was kind and friendly. A beloved friend of all.” 

Abu-Habel, who is also a doctor and works at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, said Gaza’s football community has “lost a lot” during the continuing war. 

“How many should we lose more? The sports community in Gaza is simply collapsing.” 

Palestinian football analyst and commentator Khalil Jadallah prepared a starting eleven of Palestinian players who had lost their lives as a result of Israeli violence in the first month of the war, which started on October 7.  

Five months ago Jadallah told news reporters, "It is difficult to know exactly how many have died during this war because of the sheer amount of death." 

"I can't handle my rage." He is a legend in football. The war has cost Gaza's sports industry terribly.  

Among the confirmed dead are athletes and administrators from a wide range of sports, including basketball player for Al-Breij, Bassim al-Nabahin, 27; footballer Rashid Dabbour, 28, who played for Al-Ahli Beit Hanoon; and Ahmad Awad, 21, who represented Palestine’s national football team for dwarfism. 

The Palestinian sporting community in the occupied West Bank has also been affected as tensions have spiked there. Nineteen-year-old Markaz Balata midfielder Mohammed Maree Sawafta was killed by Palestinian Authority security forces during a protest in his hometown of Tubas near Nablus on October 27. 

Perhaps the biggest loss has been that of Hani Al-Masdar, one of Palestine’s greatest footballers and a manager of the Olympic team, who was killed in January. Al-Masdar was hit by shrapnel from a missile that landed near his home in central Gaza.