Palestinians call on FIFA to condemn Israel’s killing of Palestinian footballer
Ramallah (QNN)- Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called on the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) on Thursday to condemn Israel’s killing of Palestinian footballer Ahmad Daraghmeh.
23-year-old Ahmed Atef Daraghmeh, from the West Bank city of Tubas, was shot with Israeli live bullets in the back and feet during a military raid early Thursday into the eastern neighborhood of Nablus.
Local sources reported that large numbers of Israeli occupation forces, accompanied by a military bulldozer, stormed overnight Wednesday the eastern area of Nablus to secure the settlers’ raid into Joseph’s Tomb.
Confrontations, however, erupted between Palestinians and Israeli occupation soldiers as the latter fired live bullets, rubber-coated metal bullets, and tear gas canisters toward the residents who refused the settlers’ raid of the area and tried to block their passage.
Shtayyeh strongly slammed the Israeli crime that resulted in the killing of Daraghmeh, who was a professional football player who played as an attacking midfielder with Thaqafi Tulkarm football club.
The Prime Minister called on international rights’ organization to take responsibility to stop Israeli assassinations against Palestinians and hold the Israeli occupation accountable for its crimes.
“Football players are honored and celebrated around the world, and in Palestine they are killed by the Israeli occupation forces,” Sabah Sabah, the Thaqafi Tulkarm football team’s manager, told local media.
The killing comes amid a spike in Israeli violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank this year. 224 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers so far this year, making 2022 the deadliest year for Palestinians since 2005.
