The killing of a Palestinian footballer by Israeli forces on Monday has reignited calls for Fifa to ban Israel amid its ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Saleem al-Ashqar, 32, was cycling in search of a gas cylinder when Israeli soldiers shot him in the town of al-Qarara, just outside Khan Younis.

The Khadamat Khan Younis goalkeeper was taken to hospital but died of severe internal haemorrhaging and organ damage, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) said.

“Despite medical efforts, the hospital’s severely limited capabilities – exacerbated by the collapse of Gaza’s health sector due to the ongoing war of extermination – made it impossible to control the internal bleeding,” Dima Youssef told the New Arab. “Given the severity of his injuries, al-Ashqar passed away about two hours after arriving at the hospital.”

The goalkeeper’s death brings the number of Palestinian athletes killed by Israel since October 2023 to 1,009, including at least 567 footballers.

In a tribute on X, Turkey’s minister of sports Osman Aşkın Bak compared the 567 Palestinians murdered by Israel to the 572 footballers playing in the World Cup.

Spanish-Moroccan sports journalist Leyla Hamed wrote that Fifa suspends football federations “almost every week” but repeatedly refused to issue a decision on Israel. “How much investigation does the most documented genocide in history need?” she asked.

In 2024, the PFA asked Fifa to expel the Israel Football Association amid its genocide in Gaza.

This March, Fifa finally announced it would not kick out Israel but fined its football authority $190,000 on charges relating to “discriminatory and racist abuse”.

Meanwhile, it suspended Russia from the World Cup days after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The body has been silent on the systematic targeting of Palestinian athletes since the start of the genocide in October 2023, drawing condemnation from advocacy groups including the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

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