Doha, Qatar — It’s Saturday afternoon and a small soccer field in a residential complex in Qatar is beginning to fill with dozens of children before their weekly soccer practice.
The compound, located on the outskirts of the capital Doha, houses Palestinian families evacuated from Gaza over the past year – since Israel began its genocidal war against the besieged Gaza Strip.
Qatar hosts more than 1,700 Palestinians, including 762 children, who were evacuated from Gaza, according to figures provided by Qatar’s Interior Ministry. The evacuations began in the weeks following Israeli attacks on Gaza and were halted when Israeli forces closed the Rafah border in May.
Boys and girls of different age groups gathered in the open spaces in the middle of the apartment buildings, unfazed by the typically hot and humid September weather.
Upon their arrival, football coaches from the Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) football academy, based in Doha, are greeted with big smiles and high-fives from the children.
“In the last 11 months, we have never missed our weekly training sessions here,” coach Bassam Khalil told Tel Aviv Tribune and adds: “Even in much hotter weather.”
Khalil said it took them weeks, even months, to break the ice with the children.
“At first the kids were very aggressive on the field,” he said.
“It’s natural. They came out of a war zone, they are the children of Gaza, so we had to be patient and compassionate with them before they could start real football training. »
Khalil smiles as he sees the children putting themselves to the test on the field. His colleague approaches them with training clothes and soccer balls.
After a quick pep talk and a few warm-up routines, the players are divided into two teams of five and the action begins.