JABALIA, Palestinian Territories: On a makeshift pitch in war-torn Gaza, a young player and a goalkeeper isolate themselves from the noisy crowd and focus solely on soccer during the clash.
The referee blows his whistle and the penalty taker kicks the ball into the makeshift goal, sparking celebrations among the spectators surrounding him.
For fans and players, Tuesday’s game in the Jabalia refugee camp was a welcome distraction from the pangs of hunger and exhaustion endured during the nearly 300-day war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Referee Rami Mustafa Abu Hashish told AFP that football had helped “bring back some semblance of life” to Jabalia, which has been devastated by Israeli bombing and fighting that has devastated schools, stadiums and homes and uprooted families several times.
In the courtyard of a school transformed into a shelter, the two teams fought over a trophy that, according to one player, was recovered from the rubble.
The match created a celebratory atmosphere, with spectators pulling out chairs and leaning over the railings of the three-story complex to applaud.
A group of kids crammed into the back of an empty truck to get a better view.
“We will play despite hunger and thirst, we will compete because we love life,” read one child’s sign, in both English and Arabic.
Jabalia was hit particularly hard by the Israeli offensive launched in May, part of a ferocious campaign that swept through northern Gaza, an area the army had previously said was beyond the control of Hamas militants.
As fighting rages, aid agencies struggle to distribute aid and warn of impending famine.
Residents told AFP news agency that there is very little food left in the north and that the little that reaches them comes at an astronomical cost.
For the players, the match represented an unusual escape from worries about food and water shortages.
They have not been able to play since the war broke out on October 7, triggered by attacks by Hamas, which left 1,197 people dead in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
The militants also took 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, including 44 who died, according to the army.
According to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry, Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 39,145 Palestinians, mostly civilians.
“Since the war in the Gaza Strip, we have stayed away from sports because all the clubs were destroyed, all the playing fields were destroyed, but today we have created something out of nothing,” said Saif Abu Saif, one of the players.
According to Gaza's Ministry of Education, 85 percent of educational facilities in the territory are out of service due to the war.
Many have been turned into shelters for war-displaced people, as most of the besieged Strip's 2.4 million inhabitants have been uprooted multiple times.
Coach Wael Abu Saif said he was determined to attend Tuesday's match despite still being in pain from injuries sustained in a February attack. Now in a wheelchair, he said he has lost the use of both legs.
“I've loved football since I was a child, I love tournaments, I love playing,” he told AFP.
“I want to show the whole world… that we continue to move forward with the most fundamental of our rights, which is to play football.”
