JABALIA, Palestinian Territories: On a makeshift pitch in war-torn Gaza, a young player and goalkeeper blocks out the rowdy crowd and focuses only on football as they face each other.
The referee blows his whistle and the penalty kick kicks the ball into the makeshift goal, sparking wild celebrations as the crowd swarms him.
For fans and players, Tuesday's game in the Jabalia refugee camp was a welcome distraction from the hunger and exhaustion endured during the nearly 300-day Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Referee Rami Mustafa Abu Hashish told AFP that soccer had helped “restore some semblance of life” in Jabalia, devastated by Israeli shelling and fighting that has destroyed schools, stadiums and homes and often uprooted families.
In the courtyard of a school-turned-shelter, the two sides competed for a trophy, which one player said was salvaged from the rubble.
The game created a festive atmosphere, with spectators pulling up chairs and leaning over the railings of the three-story complex to cheer.
A group of boys huddled on an empty truck bed for a better view.
“We will play despite hunger and thirst, we will compete because we love life,” read one child's sign in both English and Arabic.
Jabalia was hit particularly hard in an Israeli offensive launched in May, part of a fierce campaign that swept across northern Gaza – an area the army previously said was not under the control of Hamas militants.
As the fighting rages, aid agencies are scrambling to deliver aid and warn of an impending famine.
Residents told AFP that there is barely any food left in the north, and the little that reaches them comes at an astronomical cost.
For the footballers, the match provided a rare reprieve from worries about food and water shortages.
They have been unable to play since the outbreak of war on October 7 triggered by Hamas attacks, which have killed 1,197 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
The militants also captured 251 hostages, of whom 116 remain in Gaza, including 44 the military says are dead.
Israel's campaign of revenge has killed at least 39,145 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory.
“Since the war in the Gaza Strip, I stayed away from sports because all the clubs were destroyed, all the playgrounds were destroyed, but today, I made something out of nothing,” said Saif Abu Saif, one of the players.
Gaza's Ministry of Education says 85 percent of the territory's schools are out of order because of the war.
Many have been turned into shelters for displaced warlords, as most of the besieged strip's 2.4 million people have been uprooted multiple times.
Coach Wael Abu Saif said he was determined to play in Tuesday's match despite still dealing with pain from injuries sustained in an attack in February. Now in a wheelchair, he said he lost the use of both legs.
“I like football since I was a kid, I like tournaments, I like to play,” he told AFP.
“I want to demonstrate to the whole world … that we continue to move forward with the most basic of our rights, which is to play football.”
