GAZA CITY (Reuters) -The “Pele” of Palestinian soccer hoped to keep scoring goals until he was 50. An Israeli tank shell dashed that dream a decade early, his family said, killing Suleiman al-Obeid as he queued in southern Gaza this week to collect food.
Obeid’s widow Doaa al-Obeid now clutches the blue-and-white number 10 shorts he wore for his Gaza club, Al-Shati, one of the only mementos she has of her late husband, as she and her five children mourn the revered 41-year-old striker.
“This is the most precious thing left behind by him,” she said.
The family have few other belongings of Obeid, whose home was destroyed in a bombardment earlier this year. They now live in a tent among the ruins of a neighbourhood of Gaza City.
Obeid, likened by fans to Brazilian great Pele for his skills and goalscoring, hit headlines this week after Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah criticized a tribute to Obeid by Europe’s governing body UEFA that did not mention the cause of death.
“Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?” wrote Salah.
The Palestinian Football Association said Obeid was killed in an attack by the Israeli military in southern Gaza while waiting to collect aid at a distribution point.
His family said it was a tank shell that killed him.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment and has not publicly commented on Obeid’s death.
Obeid, who had played for the Palestinian national team, was still playing for his club in Gaza when the war between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023.
Hamas attacked Israeli towns and villages killing more than 1,200 people. Israel in response has laid waste to the Gaza Strip, a coastal enclave housing more than 2 million people, and killed some 61,000 Palestinians.
Most have been killed by airstrikes, artillery and gunfire, but a growing number are starving to death.
‘THIS PLAYER WAS A GAZELLE’
Obeid kept playing throughout the hardship, his widow Doaa said.
“He used to go training every day and never stopped, not a single day. Even during the crisis of war, in the midst of rockets, shelling and mass killing, he would go play. He used to gather his friends and loved ones and go play with them,” she said.
The Palestinian Football Association says hundreds of athletes and sports officials are among those killed by Israel’s assault, with most sports facilities now destroyed.
Palestinian soccer fans say they will focus not on Obeid’s violent death but his legacy.
“Children called him the Henry and Pele of Palestine,” said Hassan al-Balawi, a barber in Gaza City, in a comparison also with French great Thierry Henry.
“This player was a gazelle – when we stepped onto the pitch, we enjoyed watching him. All Palestinian soccer fans enjoyed Captain Suleiman al-Obeid.”
(Reporting by Ebrahim Hajjaj, Saleh Salem; additional reporting by Ali Sawafta, Nidal al-Mughrabi, Heba FouadWriting by John DavisonEditing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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