LONDON — Liverpool star Mohamed Salah on Saturday criticized UEFA’s tribute to the late Suleiman Al-Obeid, known as the “Palestinian Pele,” after European soccer’s governing body failed to reference the circumstances surrounding his death this week.
The Palestine Football Association said that Al-Obeid, 41, was killed by Israeli fire targeting civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
Europe’s football governing body UEFA posted on X: “Farewell to Suleiman al-Obeid, the ‘Palestinian Pele.’ A talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times.”
Egyptian striker Salah responded by posting: “Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?”
Within hours, the post on X had been viewed more than 60 million times.
UEFA was not immediately available to comment.
The PFA later posted a statement on its Facebook page attributed to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, calling Al-Obeid “proof of the joy that can flourish in the hearts of people despite hardship.
“He gave his talent and dedication to the children of Gaza and gave their dreams a hope to blossom despite the suffering,” the statement read.
Born in Gaza City, Obeid was married and had five children. He played 24 international matches for team Palestine.
The 33-year-old Egyptian Salah, arguably the Arab world’s biggest sporting star, has rarely expressed himself politically. However, in October 2023, Salah called on “world leaders to come together” to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza to “prevent further slaughter of innocent souls.”
Salah, who was the UK’s Premier League top scorer last season, was due to line up for Liverpool on Sunday in the Community Shield at Wembley against Crystal Palace, the traditional curtain-raiser to the English football season.
There was no immediate Israeli response to the initial PFA statement about Obeid’s death. Israel has denied shooting at people waiting for aid, but says it has fired warning shots at those who come too close to troops.
Thousands of Palestinians congregate daily near food distribution points in Gaza, including three managed by the controversial US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has been plagued by near-daily shooting incidents that have seen hundreds killed as they try to reach the GHF distribution centers.
The United Nations says more than 1,300 people have been killed trying to obtain aid supplies in the enclave since the GHF began operating in May, most of them shot by Israeli forces operating near GHF sites.
The IDF has called the UN tallies exaggerated, though it hasn’t provided alternate numbers.
Since the start of the war against Hamas in Gaza, 662 Palestinians from the sport and scouting sector have been killed, 321 of them in the soccer community, according to the PFA.
The war was sparked by the Palestinian terror group Hamas’s onslaught on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 251 were taken hostage, of whom 49 remain in captivity, the majority of them no longer alive.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 60,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.