The red, white, green and black Palestinian flag was omnipresent at the match, which was moved from the occupied West Bank to Kuwait due to the war between Israel and Hamas.
Palestinian flags and black and white keffiyeh flew high at Kuwait’s Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium as Palestine took on Australia in World Cup qualifying.
Thousands of Palestinians and their supporters gathered at the 60,000-seat venue on Tuesday for the football match, the first in Palestine in front of fans since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
“Palestine is in our hearts. We came to the stadium, young and old, in support,” Anfal Al-Azmi, a 45-year-old Kuwaiti woman, told Agence France-Presse.
Defender Harry Souttar’s 18th-minute goal was all that separated the teams as Australia won 1-0 in a match where the action on the field was almost coincidental.
The match took place more than six weeks after Palestinian Hamas fighters killed 1,200 people and took about 240 hostages in southern Israel, according to Israeli officials, in an attack launched from the Gaza Strip on October 7.
Israel, vowing to destroy Hamas, launched a fierce air and ground attack on Gaza in response, killing more than 14,100 people, including 5,600 children, according to Palestinian officials.
“We don’t care about the game. We came to deliver a message,” said Wael Youssef Labbad, 40, a Palestinian from Ashkelon, Israel.
“We, the Palestinian people, are always present with the keffiyeh and the flag. »
The red, black, white and green Palestinian flag was omnipresent at the match – which was moved from Ramallah to the occupied West Bank because of the war – and many fans twirled the distinctive keffiyehs while chanting.
Others held “Free Gaza” banners and photos of keys, symbolizing the homes lost by Palestinians during the Nakba, or catastrophe, when more than 700,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced around the founding of Israel in 1948.
Australian players will donate a portion of their match fees to humanitarian operations in Gaza, the situation of which has been described as “horrible” by guest coach Graham Arnold.
Not all fans were Palestinian. Many came from communities in the oil-rich Gulf country.
“Kuwait and Palestine are one. Today we are guests of Palestine in their land,” said Kuwaiti Ahmed Al-Anezi, 36, draped in the Palestinian flag and wearing a keffiyeh.
“Today, I and my entire family have come to support the Palestinian people and consolidate the first Arab cause in the souls of my children.”
Yahya Shaher, 18, a Syrian university student, said: “We are here to support our brothers. We are one and victory is ours.