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A 20-year-old Palestinian goalkeeper was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza just five days after competing in a football tournament dedicated to athletes and sports officials killed since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Football Association.
Mahmoud Kamal Fares Abdel-Malek, who captained Gaza Sports Club and played as its goalkeeper, was killed Tuesday in the Sabra neighborhood of southern Gaza City.
The association said his death raised the number of Palestinian athletes and sports workers killed since October 2023 to 1,017.
Abdel-Malek had recently helped Gaza Sports Club finish second in the Gaza and Northern Gaza division of the Thousand Martyrs Cup, with the final taking place on Nov. 5.
The tournament marked the return of organized football following a prolonged suspension brought about by the war and the destruction of sporting facilities.
Launched on Sept. 4, the competition brought together more than 200 teams from Gaza, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
Abdel-Malek's death followed the killing of another young Palestinian footballer just days earlier.
The Palestinian Football Association 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.
The latest airstrike came amid reported Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement that took effect on Oct. 10, 2025.
Since October 2023, Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 74,600 Palestinians and wounded nearly 176,000 others, with women and children accounting for most of the casualties, according to the figures provided. The war has also destroyed an estimated 90% of Gaza's infrastructure.
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