Responding to Mohamed Salah: Who Killed the ‘Palestinian Pelé’?

Palestine Chronicle Staff

20 Aug 2025

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Liverpool star Mohamed Salah rebuked UEFA for not mentioning who killed Suleiman al-Obeid. (Image: Maktoob Media)

Al-Obeid, 41, was killed on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, in an Israeli attack on civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip.

Originally published in Palestine Chronicle.

When UEFA posted a tribute on Friday, August 8, 2025, to Suleiman al-Obeid — the Gaza football legend known as the “Palestinian Pelé” — they made no mention of who killed him or how he died.

Liverpool star Mohamed Salah, the most high-profile Arab player in the game, appeared to notice. The following day, Saturday, August 9, 2025, he replied to UEFA’s post with a pointed and deliberate question: “Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?”

The comment — a clear rebuke of UEFA’s omission — quickly went viral, drawing nearly one million views in less than 24 hours.

Here is the Palestine Chronicle’s answer to Salah’s question.

Who Killed Suleiman al-Obeid?

Al-Obeid, 41, was killed on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, in an Israeli attack on civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Football Association (PFA).

Born in Gaza on March 24, 1984, he began his career with Khadamat al-Shati before moving to Markaz Shabab al-Am’ari in the occupied West Bank, later returning to play for Gaza Sport.

He became a fixture in the Palestinian national team after his 2007 debut, earning 24 caps and scoring twice. His most memorable goal — a spectacular scissor-kick against Yemen — came during the 2010 West Asian Football Federation championship.

During his long career, al-Obeid scored more than 100 goals. His skill, creativity, and leadership earned him the nickname “the Palestinian Pelé,” a nod to the Brazilian great widely regarded as one of the best players in history.

The PFA said al-Obeid was trying to obtain humanitarian aid amid widespread starvation and severe shortages of food and water when he was killed. He is survived by his wife and five children.

The Cost to Palestinian Sports

Al-Obeid’s death came just days before the killing of another Gaza footballer, Mahmoud Rafeh Shaheen of Al-Tuffah Sports Club, who was also targeted by Israeli forces while waiting for aid. Shaheen was the second Al-Tuffah player killed in two weeks, following his teammate Ismail Abu Dan.

The PFA says Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza has devastated Palestinian sports.

Since October 7, 2023, over 700 athletes and sports officials have been killed, including 322 affiliated with the PFA — among them players, coaches, administrators, referees, and club board members.

At least 288 sports facilities have been damaged or destroyed, 268 of them in Gaza. The association’s headquarters in Gaza was among the sites hit in Israeli air raids.

As Palestinian journalist and Palestine Chronicle editor Ramzy Baroud wrote in a recent editorial, “In the Palestinian case, the hypocrisy is limitless, though it began long before the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Every Palestinian effort, often backed by Arab, Muslim, and Global South associations, to hold Israel accountable for its apartheid and military occupation has been met with consistent failure. Every time, the response is the same.”

According to Baroudm, FIFA’s “go-to excuse” — that sports and politics should not mix — is “the height of hypocrisy,” given that the organization “seamlessly mixed the two following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

Baroud stressed that the “complete moral breakdown on the part of institutions like FIFA” stands in stark contrast to the growing movement of sports fans worldwide, who “refuse to be part of this moral travesty” and are now “unequivocally challenging FIFA’s continued support for Israel.”

With American backing, Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians — most of them women, children, and the elderly — and injured over 152,000, according to Palestinian authorities.

Thousands remain missing under the rubble. The blockade-induced famine has already claimed the lives of dozens of children and continues to push thousands to the brink of starvation.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

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