"“I was sitting safely with my parents and my two older brothers. I was buried under the rubble for about 10 minutes,” Mohammed told Al Jazeera. “It was pure suffering.” Mohammed's grandmother managed to dig him out of the wreckage of the home, and the next thing he remembers is waking up in his neighbour's house on a ventilator. “I survived by a miracle,” he said."
"“Relentless Israeli bombing meant Mohammed was unable to give his parents and two brothers a proper funeral at a cemetery, so instead he buried his parents and siblings in a small, makeshift plot of land.” “Overnight, the teenager was thrust into adulthood, and he now lives amid the thousands of displaced in northern Gaza's Shati refugee camp, spending his days lighting fires and carrying heavy water containers for his grandmother.”"
"“My life flipped from happiness to grief. I used to be pampered, but now I am responsible for everything,” he said. “Amid all the challenges, Mohammed has found one escape from his daily turmoil: football.” “Before the war, Mohammed was a promising player for the Khadamat Jabalia football club.”"
"“However, following Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, the club no longer functioned, pitches were destroyed, and many of his former teammates were killed.” “Mohammed Eyad Azzam dribbles a football through a displacement camp.” “The sport has become his only escape after losing his family.”"
A 16-year-old boy in Gaza lost his immediate family when an Israeli warplane struck his multistory home in the Jabalia refugee camp on October 11, 2024. He was buried under rubble for about ten minutes, then woke up in a neighbor’s house on a ventilator after being dug out by his grandmother. Relentless bombing prevented a proper cemetery funeral, so his parents and siblings were buried in a small makeshift plot. He now lives in the Shati refugee camp, lighting fires and carrying heavy water for his elderly grandmother. Before the war, he played for Khadamat Jabalia, but the club stopped functioning, pitches were destroyed, and teammates were killed. Football remains his only escape from daily turmoil.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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