A Palestinian footballer who visited Ireland and met President Michael D Higgins has been killed along with much of his family in an Israeli air strike on a refugee camp in Gaza.
Muhammad Khalifa (20), his brother Mahmoud (18) were members of the Palestinian national youth football team. They, their mother and five other members of the Khalifa family died when a bomb struck their home in the Nuseirat refugee camp on Tuesday.
President Higgins said he has “the warmest of memories” of meeting the young Palestinian players who visited Ireland.
He recalled: “The young Palestinian players that came were all in touch afterwards to say how much their visit to Ireland had meant to them and how anxious they were to stay in touch with the soccer community who had been their hosts in Ireland.
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“I would once again appeal to the international community to address the issue of how, by alleging that a refugee camp may contain a terrorist, one has the right to demolish entire homes and, in this case, kill a young person and his family.”
Khalifa, as he was known to his friends, visited Ireland in 2016 and 2017 on a trip organised by Gaza Action Ireland.
Zoe Lawlor, chair of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, remembered Khalifa as a brilliant footballer who was full of fun and joy. “We just had a lovely time with them while they were here, and they loved Ireland,” she said.
[ Israeli air strikes kill at least 38 Palestinians in latest attacks on GazaOpens in new window ]
The children from Gaza played against teams from League of Ireland clubs and in 2016 they formed the guard of honour at a Galway United versus Dundalk match in Galway, and “the President was there because he’s a season-ticket holder and he asked to meet the Palestinians”, she said.
“Then in 2017, they were invited to a game between Shamrock Rovers and Derry City in Tallaght Stadium as part of the Gaza Kids to Tallaght initiative. The President asked to meet them specifically, and we had a big gathering with all the kids and the coaches ... it was really lovely,” Ms Lawlor said.
Ms Lawlor said she received messages from several different sources on Wednesday saying Khalifa and many of his family had been killed. His death was also confirmed by his football club, Al-Hilal.
She said 60 Palestinians a day were being killed in the current conflict and 1,400 Palestinian families in Gaza had been wiped out, while more than 3,000 more were the sole surviving member of their family. “It’s just devastating the scale of loss,” she said.
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