World
IDF reveals terror affiliations of 12 Gazan soccer players killed in Israeli strikes
The Israeli military provided details Wednesday on 12 soccer players killed in the Gaza Strip during the war between Israel and Hamas who have been identified as terror operatives, slamming their international portrayal as innocent athletes.
“Following an intelligence investigation, it is now possible to reveal the terrorists’ organizational affiliation and their roles, despite the fact that in many cases they were presented to the world solely as soccer players, without any mention of their affiliation with terror organizations,” the military said.
Some of the information was based on open sources, but all of those listed were identified by the IDF as members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
They were named by the military as:
Mohammed Barakat
Barakat, nicknamed “the Legend of Khan Younis” for his soccer prowess, was a terrorist in Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, the IDF said.
Barakat played on the Palestinian national team and was the captain of Shabab Khanyounis. His death attracted considerable media attention, and a community soccer tournament was held in London in his memory.
Mahmoud Kamal Mohammed Ali Al-Rifi
Al-Rifi was the captain of the Al-Jalaa soccer club in Gaza and a company commander in Hamas’s aerial array.
Mohammed Mansour
Mansour played for a soccer club in Nuseirat and coached the club’s youth division. He was a deputy commander in Hamas’s Nuseirat Battalion, who invaded Israel on October 7, 2023.
Ahmed Mohammed Hassan Abu al-Atta
Al-Atta was a soccer player and a platoon commander in Islamic Jihad. Atta, who played for Al-Ahli Gaza, was recently identified by the terror group as the deputy commander of the Gaza City Brigade’s rocket unit.
Abdullah Riyad Abdullah Khattab
Khattab was a player for Gaza’s al-Ribat soccer team and Ittihad Shabab Deir al-Balah, and a member of Islamic Jihad’s anti-tank missile array.
Mohammed Sami Mohammed Khattab
Khattab, a FIFA international referee, was a member of Islamic Jihad in central Gaza. The IDF said Khattab refereed matches in the West Asian Championships and other international games.
Ali Mahmoud Ahmed al-Kurd
Al-Kurd was a soccer player and coach for two teams in Rafah, as well as a platoon commander in Islamic Jihad in the Strip’s southernmost city.
Mohammed Imad Atta Hassoun
Hassoun was the captain of the Al-Shabab al-Zawaida soccer team and a Hamas terrorist who invaded Israel on October 7, 2023.
Tarek Ziad Hussein al-Hour
Al-Hour was a midfield soccer player who played for several teams in the Gaza Strip, according to the IDF, and was a member of Hamas’s military wing.
Mohammed Ziad Hussein al-Hour
Al-Hour was a beach soccer player and platoon commander in Hamas’s military wing in Nuseirat. The IDF said al-Hour competed on the Palestinian national team in the 2013 West Asian Beach Soccer Championship.
Mahmoud Osama al-Jazzar
Al-Jazzar was a goalkeeper for two soccer teams in Rafah, and an Islamic Jihad operative.
Mohammed Nidal Mohammed al-Hawajri
The IDF said al-Hawajri was a soccer player but did not say what teams he played for, and was a commander in Hamas’s military wing in Nuseirat.
Meet some of Hamas & Islamic Jihad’s “soccer players”: pic.twitter.com/nRdvM08AvG
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) July 22, 2026
Israel has been widely condemned on the international stage for the killing of soccer players and other athletes throughout the two-year war in Gaza, sparked by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel.
The military said there has been a “false campaign portraying the IDF as deliberately targeting members of the soccer community, which was created as part of a broader effort promoted by various actors against the State of Israel, accompanies other false narratives advanced throughout the war.”
“In those campaigns, Palestinian terrorists struck and eliminated by the IDF were presented as journalists, humanitarian aid workers and other civilian professionals, while their involvement in terrorist activity was deliberately concealed to promote false claims that they had been targeted because of their civilian professions,” the army added.
Critics of the Jewish state have mounted efforts to exclude it from international sporting events just like Russia has been since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, though that invasion wasn’t provoked by any Ukrainian attack.
Unlike Russia, however, Israel has not been shut out of global sports institutions like the International Olympic Committee or the world soccer body FIFA. Besides the small international Muay Thai federation, there’s been little will in international sports to prevent Israeli athletes from competing under their national flag.
