Israeli strike kills Gaza goalkeeper days after final honoring slain athletes

An Israeli airstrike killed a 20-year-old Palestinian goalkeeper in Gaza five days after he played in a tournament final honoring athletes and sports officials killed since October 2023, the Palestinian Football Association said. Mahmoud Kamal Fares Abdel-Malek, captain and goalkeeper of Gaza Sports Club, was killed Tuesday in the Sabra neighborhood of southern Gaza City. His death brought the death toll among Palestinian athletes and sports workers to 1,017, according to the association.

His club finished second in the Gaza and Northern Gaza division of the Thousand Martyrs Cup, whose final took place Nov. 5. The tournament marked a return to organized football after Israel’s war and the destruction of sporting facilities forced a prolonged suspension. It began Sept. 4, drawing more than 200 teams from Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Days earlier, the association announced the death of another young footballer.

It said Saturday that Israeli forces had shot and killed Mohammed Nidal Barbakh, a 15-year-old player at Al-Najma Sports Academy, while he was playing football with friends in Al-Mawasi, southern Gaza. Tuesday’s airstrike came amid continued Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement that took effect on Oct. 10, 2025. Since October 2023, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 74,600 Palestinians and wounded nearly 176,000 others.

Most of those killed or wounded were women and children. The war has also destroyed 90% of the territory’s infrastructure.