In the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis, where tents stretch over the sand and queues snake for water and food, Asaad Al-Azzabi prepares for a match that is a world away from what he once knew.
Before the war, Al-Azzabi played for the Al-Tajammu club in Rafah, where he and his teammates had access to fields, training rooms, coaches and equipment.
Asaad Al-Azzabi’s broken boots.
borrowed boots
Now you’re lucky to find boots to play with. “Sometimes I borrow a pair from a friend or patch them up with duct tape,” he says.
Their home is now a tent in Al-Rahma Camp, a shelter for displaced people in Rafah, where access to clean water and sanitation is scarce. He lives alone, after his wife went to Jordan with their son, who has cancer, to seek treatment.
According to UN data, around 1.7 million people live in around 1,600 displacement sites across the Gaza Strip, most of them in temporary or informal locations. Most residents depend on trucked water and are forced to face restrictions on the entry of equipment, fuel and repair materials.
Amid the struggle to meet basic needs, Al-Azzabi is preparing for the match with the nearby Sheikh Al-Eid camp. He explains the game plan to his players by drawing in the sand, before the team sets out on foot to a field located between the tents of the displaced.
The match appears to be more than a sporting activity: it is a respite from the daily difficulties of life on the fields.
Children and young people gather around the sand field, applauding the players, some of whom arrived after spending hours waiting in line to receive food, water or charge batteries.
Displaced people from Rafah watching the match between Al-Rahma camp and Sheikh Al-Eid camp.
something out of nothing
Referee Alaa Abu Taha, a referee for the Palestinian Football Association and a displaced resident of Rafah, says football has become the “only way out” for many people in Gaza.
“We try to play with the most limited resources. Now there is no sports infrastructure. The field we are on now was originally prepared for basketball and volleyball, but our people create everything from nothing,” he says.
Gaza’s sports sector has suffered widespread destruction since the outbreak of war. According to the Palestinian Football Association, hundreds of athletes have been killed, including many footballers, while hundreds of sports facilities have been damaged or destroyed, including fields, clubhouses and training halls.
In Al-Mawasi these losses have not prevented the players from organizing a championship between displaced camps.
the big match
The match begins in front of a small crowd of displaced spectators, with Mr. Al-Azzabi participating in boots held together with plastic tape. At the end of the match, Al-Rahma Camp defeats Sheikh Al-Eid Camp by 2-1.
Asaad Al-Azzabi celebrating with the crowd of young people and children.
After the final whistle, the young people of the camp lift him and his companions on their shoulders, while children and young people celebrate between the tents. For a few brief moments, the sound of movement recedes from the scene and football emerges as a rare space for joy.
“In these difficult circumstances, being able to go out and play a game like this is a very good thing,” says Al-Azzabi. “Congratulations to our camp. I dedicate this championship to my wife and son in Jordan, and I wish my son a speedy recovery.”
For him, the match is more than a sporting victory. It is a message to his distant family and an attempt to preserve what remains of his life as a former player, chasing the ball as if it were the last thing that connected him to who he was before the war.
