Suleiman Al-Obeid, known fondly as the Palestinian Pele, was killed in an attack by Israeli forces while waiting for humanitarian aid, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) said. Al-Obeid, who was 41, leaves behind a wife and five children.
Al-Obeid began his footballing career with Khadamat al-Shati, later playing for Markaz Shabab al-Am'ari in the occupied West Bank, and Gaza Sport for whom he scored a combined 100+ goals, earning him his nickname Pele. He made his national team debut for Palestine in 2007, winning 24 caps and scoring twice, PFA said. One of those included a scissors kick against Yemen during the 2010 West Asian Football Federation championship.
In that same year, Al Obeid was among six players on the national team who were turned back at the Jordanian border for "security reasons" on their way to a friendly in Mauritania. "When I heard that we would be forbidden from travelling I was very upset, because any athlete dreams of wearing his national jersey in international forums," Obeid told AFP in 2010. "We want to be able to travel freely with our families, just like athletes anywhere else in the world."
Since October 2023, 662 people associated with the sporting sector have been killed, including 321 in the footballing community, said the PFA.
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