Displaced Palestinian family of the late soccer player Suleiman al-Obeid, known as the "Palestinian Pelé", sat in their tent in Gaza City mourning his loss after he was killed while waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday (August 6), according to The Palestine Football Association (PFA).
His widow, Doaa Al-Obeid, hanged on the 41-year-old striker's shorts, describing it as “the most precious thing left behind by him,” remembering how he braved shelling to keep playing the sport he loved.
Just months earlier, he was filmed picking through the rubble of his destroyed home, holding the worn remnants of his football career and saying, “these are what remains from my sports career and the memories.”
Reuters was not able to confirm the location where the video was recorded. The date when the video was recorded was verified by the metadata on the original video file. The identity of the soccer player shown in the video was verified using file imagery.
Al-Obeid played 24 international matches with the Palestinian national team, scored over 100 goals, and won both individual and team titles, according to the Palestinian Football Association.
"He loved the name Pelé. Pelé was his whole life. He loved the name Pelé, wherever he goes and comes, (he was called) Pelé, Pelé, Pelé," said Inas al-Obeid, 17-year-old daughter of Suleiman.
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah on Saturday (August 9) criticized UEFA's tribute to the late Suleiman Al-Obeid, known as the "Palestinian Pele," after European soccer's governing body failed to reference the circumstances surrounding his death this week.
In a brief post on the social media platform X, UEFA called the former national team member "a talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times."
Salah responded: "Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?"
UEFA was not immediately available to comment.
Salah criticizes UEFA for 'Palestinian Pele' tribute: 'Tell us how he died'
The PFA said on Saturday that 325 players, coaches, administrators, referees and club board members in the Palestinian soccer community have died in the Israeli-Hamas conflict since October 2023.Israel did not immediately comment.
The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed near aid distribution sites and aid convoys in Gaza since the launch of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S. and Israel-backed aid distribution system, in late May.
Gaza medics said Israeli fire killed at least six Palestinians on Sunday, four of them in an airstrike in Khan Younis and two more people among crowds seeking aid in central Gaza. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the report.
(Production: Ebrahim Hajajj, Fadi Shana, Aaron McNicholas, Yazan Kalach)