Key points
- Al-Obeid played 24 matches for the national team
- 662 athletes and relatives have died in Gaza
- Over 1,300 killed near aid sites amid hunger crisis
ISLAMABAD: Palestinian national football team player Suleiman al-Obeid has been killed in an Israeli attack on aid seekers in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera.
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.
Palestinian soccer legend Sulieman al-Obeid was killed yesterday as he waited in line for flour to feed his family of his wife and five kids. Heres the Palestinian Pele scoring a goal & imitating @Cristiano celebration. Not a word of condemnation from @FIFAcom or any footballers pic.twitter.com/9w6oU49f9Y
— James Leonard (@JamesLeonard85) August 7, 2025
He was nicknamed the “Pelé of Palestinian football” – after the Brazilian professional footballer widely regarded as one of the best football players of all time.
The football star leaves behind a wife and five children.
One of the brightest
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.
With al-Obeid’s death, the number of athletes and their family members killed in the Strip since the start of Israel’s war has risen to 662.
The number of football-related deaths in Gaza now stands at 321, including players, coaches, administrators, referees and club board members.
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.
24 international matches
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.
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.
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, according to Al Jazeera.
