Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
At a small soccer field in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, an explosion of joy and laughter rises above the eerie silence of Israel’s genocide. On the field, one of the few survivors of the war to this day, a group of girls with artificial hands pass the ball in an artificial game.
They are among the young Palestinian women who lost their limbs in Israeli bombings or were amputated after severe injuries.
The stories here begin with the pain that each actor endured during the shooting of the plane, and the long journey that brought them back.
Central to this is the work of the Palestine Association Women’s Amputee Football Team to help them physically and mentally to recover from the ordeal that changed their lives.
Since the start of Israel’s war on the island on October 7, 2023, Gaza has seen one of the largest mass mutilations recorded in modern history.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and Palestinian health officials say more than 5,000 people in Gaza have had their legs amputated by Israeli bombs.
The recovery process
Among them is 23-year-old Farah Abu Qinas, who on the night of June 28, 2024, the 23-year-old was sitting in his grandmother’s house when the neighborhood was bombed.
Farah suffered severe injuries to his left leg, while his right leg was badly burned. At first, he hoped that the treatment would restore his life, but he realized that due to the severity of the wounds on his left leg, it would have to be amputated.
Losing a leg was only part of the problem; what followed was isolation and the realization that every aspect of his daily life had changed.
After leaving the hospital, even walking became difficult, and physical rehabilitation became a daily routine. Over time, she felt her world shrink within the walls of her home as her recovery progressed more slowly than she had expected.
All this changed when, during a training session, he met Fouad Abu Ghalyon, the president of the Palestinian Amputee Football Association.
She helped found Gaza’s women’s amputees team and now has 11 players – nine amputees and two amputees who play as goalkeepers.
Soon Farah was invited to join one of their courses and decided to drop out. Although getting used to playing soccer was difficult at first, she was helped by other women who had gone through similar situations as hers.
He now walks with more confidence on and off the field. With the help of his artificial leg, he runs the ball along with his teammates Rozan Khaira and Aisha al-Abadla.
Although their stories are different, Farah, Rozan, and Aisha all lost a limb or had a disability.
Their search for a place to regain purpose, confidence and belonging has come through this football team.
More Than One Story
On November 19, 2023, at the height of the war, an airstrike destroyed a building opposite Rozan Khaira’s home, leaving him seriously injured.
Rozan tried to get out of bed but couldn’t. At a nearby hospital, a doctor said that his leg was attached to a small piece of skin, and he had no choice but to amputate it.
Now, he rests on his crutches as he throws the ball to teammates across the field with persistence and resistance.
“The (Israeli) occupation cut our bodies, but it could not destroy our dreams or our will to live,” he told Al Jazeera.
Aisha al-Abadla was born with an incomplete arm. Doctors believe that the defect may be due to her mother’s exposure to white phosphorus, used by Israel during Israel’s first war in Gaza in 2008, when she was pregnant with Aisha.
Today, Aisha dreams of becoming a soccer player for the Palestinian youth soccer team.
Fouad says the women’s club was not just about football but about creating a space where women, like Aisha, could reconnect with themselves and others.
In the end, football has become an important way to restore the body and mind after an injury.
The group continues to face serious challenges, including limited resources and inadequate support, but has been able to survive until now through people’s efforts and cooperation.
It comes as 1,009 members of the Palestinian athletics team have been killed in Israel’s deadly war in Gaza, almost completely depleting its sports equipment.
Dr Khader Abu Shmala, a psychologist and coach of the Gaza Hope team, says the benefits of amputees playing football go beyond physical rehabilitation.
Many of these survivors become withdrawn and isolated. Joining a group made up of people who have endured similar experiences helps them regain confidence and reconnect with society.
Today, Farah and his friends stand on the football field not as survivors of war, but as athletes with aspirations and goals.
They may have lost parts of their body, but they cling to what is most important: the determination to move forward in life.
In Gaza, where the war has left thousands with life-changing injuries and deep emotional scars, these girls are writing a different story: It doesn’t start with loss, but with the moment they chose to live again.
