Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah on Saturday criticised UEFA’s tribute to the late Suleiman Al-Obeid, known as the “Palestinian Pele,” after European soccer’s governing body failed to reference the circumstances surrounding his death this week.
According to Reuters, the Palestine Football Association said that Al-Obeid, 41, was killed by an Israeli strike targeting civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
In a brief post on the social media platform X, UEFA called the former national team member “a talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times.”
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Salah responded: “Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?”
UEFA was not immediately available to comment.
One of the Premier League’s biggest stars, the 33-year-old Egyptian Salah has previously advocated for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza in the nearly two-year-old war.
The PFA later posted a statement on its Facebook page attributed to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, calling Al-Obeid “proof of the joy that can flourish in the hearts of people despite hardship.
“He gave his talent and dedication to the children of Gaza and gave their dreams a hope to blossom despite the suffering,” the statement read.
“His death is a great loss to the world of football and to everyone who recognises the power of sport to unite people.”
The PFA said on Saturday that 325 players, coaches, administrators, referees and club board members in the Palestinian soccer community have died in the Israeli-Hamas conflict since October 2023.
The war began after Gaza’s dominant Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out a cross-border attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel’s subsequent air and ground campaign has leveled entire neighbourhoods in Gaza, displaced most of the population of 2.3 million and pushed the enclave to the brink of famine, according to the United Nations.
The UN says more than 1,000 people have been killed near aid distribution sites and aid convoys in Gaza since the launch of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S. and Israel-backed aid distribution system, in late May.
