04:04A group of displaced Gaza children were seen playing football on a former sewage site in Rafah on Sunday.
"I am not afraid of getting sick," said one, Malek Abu Al-Mo’za. "This is the only place we can play and there is nowhere else to go. There aren’t any playgrounds here; half of them were bombed and the other half is closed. There is no other place to play. I love football; it is my only passion in life and the only thing that keeps me alive.”
Footage shows the children playing on the dunes, as well as tents surrounding the site.
“This was a reserve complex for sewage water when we first came to Rafah, but the water evaporated due to the sun's heat," explained another child, Mohammed al-Ghalban. "It was an empty land and we used to come here to have fun but we didn’t play football. Now, we come here to play football every day. Hopefully, when the war is over, we can play football in stadiums."
The UN reported that the population of Rafah has increased from 300,000 to 1.5 million since last October as hundreds of thousands fled the war in northern Gaza.
In January, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation, warned of the spread of disease in the crowded region.
Fighting continues in Gaza for a sixth month after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,139 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping over 200, according to Israeli officials.
Israel declared war on the group and a 'complete siege' of Gaza, with a large-scale campaign of air strikes. A ground incursion began at the end of the third week, with Israeli leaders vowing to 'wipe out' Hamas. Palestinian officials reported that at least 32,000 people had been killed and more than 74,000 injured at the time of publication.
The IDF has repeatedly stated that it is targeting Hamas locations and infrastructure in the enclave United Nations experts warned against 'collective punishment' for the people of Gaza, before predicting a 'humanitarian crisis' and then claimed that 'hell is settling in' for the region.
'Nowhere else to go!' - Groups of displaced children play football on former sewage site in Rafah
A group of displaced Gaza children were seen playing football on a former sewage site in Rafah on Sunday.
"I am not afraid of getting sick," said one, Malek Abu Al-Mo’za. "This is the only place we can play and there is nowhere else to go. There aren’t any playgrounds here; half of them were bombed and the other half is closed. There is no other place to play. I love football; it is my only passion in life and the only thing that keeps me alive.”
Footage shows the children playing on the dunes, as well as tents surrounding the site.
“This was a reserve complex for sewage water when we first came to Rafah, but the water evaporated due to the sun's heat," explained another child, Mohammed al-Ghalban. "It was an empty land and we used to come here to have fun but we didn’t play football. Now, we come here to play football every day. Hopefully, when the war is over, we can play football in stadiums."
The UN reported that the population of Rafah has increased from 300,000 to 1.5 million since last October as hundreds of thousands fled the war in northern Gaza.
In January, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation, warned of the spread of disease in the crowded region.
Fighting continues in Gaza for a sixth month after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,139 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping over 200, according to Israeli officials.
Israel declared war on the group and a 'complete siege' of Gaza, with a large-scale campaign of air strikes. A ground incursion began at the end of the third week, with Israeli leaders vowing to 'wipe out' Hamas. Palestinian officials reported that at least 32,000 people had been killed and more than 74,000 injured at the time of publication.
The IDF has repeatedly stated that it is targeting Hamas locations and infrastructure in the enclave United Nations experts warned against 'collective punishment' for the people of Gaza, before predicting a 'humanitarian crisis' and then claimed that 'hell is settling in' for the region.
A group of displaced Gaza children were seen playing football on a former sewage site in Rafah on Sunday.
"I am not afraid of getting sick," said one, Malek Abu Al-Mo’za. "This is the only place we can play and there is nowhere else to go. There aren’t any playgrounds here; half of them were bombed and the other half is closed. There is no other place to play. I love football; it is my only passion in life and the only thing that keeps me alive.”
Footage shows the children playing on the dunes, as well as tents surrounding the site.
“This was a reserve complex for sewage water when we first came to Rafah, but the water evaporated due to the sun's heat," explained another child, Mohammed al-Ghalban. "It was an empty land and we used to come here to have fun but we didn’t play football. Now, we come here to play football every day. Hopefully, when the war is over, we can play football in stadiums."
The UN reported that the population of Rafah has increased from 300,000 to 1.5 million since last October as hundreds of thousands fled the war in northern Gaza.
In January, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation, warned of the spread of disease in the crowded region.
Fighting continues in Gaza for a sixth month after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,139 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping over 200, according to Israeli officials.
Israel declared war on the group and a 'complete siege' of Gaza, with a large-scale campaign of air strikes. A ground incursion began at the end of the third week, with Israeli leaders vowing to 'wipe out' Hamas. Palestinian officials reported that at least 32,000 people had been killed and more than 74,000 injured at the time of publication.
The IDF has repeatedly stated that it is targeting Hamas locations and infrastructure in the enclave United Nations experts warned against 'collective punishment' for the people of Gaza, before predicting a 'humanitarian crisis' and then claimed that 'hell is settling in' for the region.