Israeli snipers behind sand berms on the other side of the fence fired live ammunition, rubber-coated bullets and tear gas.

Gaza is home to an estimated 1,600 amputees out of a population of more than 2 million. Sadly, the war and unrest of recent years have provided hundreds of potential recruits. вЂњWe want the player that has everythingвЂќ and is also a team player, he said. вЂњThey were tested (for) speed, agility, fitness and also looking at the skill,вЂќ Baker said. Qualifying matches will be held in Iran in March - they can make the trip if the border opens to allow them to travel through Egypt.Д¬oach Simon Baker, a Red Cross consultant and founder of the Irish Amputee Football Association, oversaw a final training session of the season on Sunday.Д«aker selected 20 players from a pool of 47 athletes representing five Gaza clubs. The players hope to compete regionally, their sights set on the World Cup for amputees in Turkey next October. The International Committee of the Red Cross, working with the Palestinian Amputee Football Association, sponsored the long process of forming the national team. He hasn't missed a single practice or match since joining the local league after it was founded in 2019. 'We feel we have something, we can give something,' said Ziad Abu Halib, 41, who lost his right leg in 2008, during the first Israel-Hamas war. They say the game helps them cope with the trauma of their injuries and the hardships of living in a crowded territory that has endured four wars and a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. They are the first Palestinian national soccer team made up entirely of amputees - players drawn from a population of hundreds that has grown in recent years through several rounds of fighting between Israel and the territory's militant Hamas rulers. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - The players race across the pitch on crutches, jostling for the soccer ball and passing it back and forth, their prosthetic legs lined up along the sidelines at a stadium in the Gaza Strip.

Strip fifa