Gaza women amputees turn to football for recovery

A women’s amputee football team in central Gaza is giving players a route back into sport after limb loss, injury and disability, Al Jazeera reported. The team, based around training sessions on a small pitch in Deir el-Balah, brings together young Palestinian women using prosthetics, crutches and goalkeeping roles to rebuild mobility and confidence.

Al Jazeera reported that the Palestine Association Women’s Amputee Football Team has become part of the players’ physical and psychological recovery during Israel’s war in Gaza. The World Health Organization and Palestinian health authorities estimate that more than 5,000 people in Gaza have had limbs amputated in Israeli bombing since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the report.

A team formed around recovery

Fouad Abu Ghalyon, president of the Palestine Amputee Football Association, helped establish the women’s team, Al Jazeera reported. The squad has 11 players: nine with lower-limb amputations and two with upper-limb amputations who play as goalkeepers.

One player, 23-year-old Farah Abu Qinas, was injured on June 28, 2024, while she was at her grandmother’s home when a nearby site was bombed, according to Al Jazeera. Her left leg was badly injured and her right leg was severely burned; doctors later determined that her left leg had to be amputated because of the damage.

After leaving hospital, Abu Qinas struggled with daily movement and spent much of her time at home while rehabilitation progressed slowly, Al Jazeera reported. She met Abu Ghalyon during physiotherapy, was invited to a training session and later joined the team.

Al Jazeera said Abu Qinas now plays with the help of a prosthetic leg alongside teammates including Rozan Khaira and Aisha al-Abadla. The team has offered them a shared setting with other women who have faced similar physical changes.

Players with different paths to the pitch

Khaira was critically wounded on Nov. 19, 2023, when an air strike destroyed a house across from her home, Al Jazeera reported. At a nearby clinic, a doctor told her that her leg could not be saved and would have to be amputated.

Khaira told Al Jazeera: “The [Israeli] occupation amputated our bodies, but it could not amputate our dreams or our will to live.”

Al-Abadla was born with an incomplete arm, according to Al Jazeera. Doctors believe the disability may have been linked to her mother’s exposure to white phosphorus during Israel’s 2008 war on Gaza while pregnant with her, the outlet reported.

Al Jazeera reported that Al-Abadla hopes to become goalkeeper for a Palestinian women’s amputee national football team. Abu Ghalyon said the team was created as a place where women could reconnect with themselves and others, not only as a sports project.

Sport under pressure in Gaza

The team operates with limited resources and inadequate support, relying on community efforts and partnerships to continue, Al Jazeera reported. The outlet also reported that 1,009 members of the Palestinian athletic community have been killed during Israel’s war in Gaza, while much of the enclave’s sports infrastructure has been destroyed.

Dr. Khader Abu Shmala, a sports psychologist and coach of the Gaza Hope team, told Al Jazeera that amputee football can help beyond physical rehabilitation. He said people who survive such injuries often withdraw from social life, and that playing with others who have lived through similar trauma can help restore confidence and social connection.

This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.