JABALIA, Palestinian Territories: On a makeshift pitch in war-torn Gaza, a young player and goalkeeper block out a rowdy crowd and focus only on soccer.
The referee blows his whistle and the penalty taker blasts the ball into the makeshift goal, sparking wild celebrations as the crowd swarms him.
For fans and players, Tuesday's game at the Jabalia refugee camp was a welcome distraction from the pangs of hunger and exhaustion experienced in the nearly 300 days of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Referee Rami Mustafa Abu Hashish told AFP that football had helped “restore some semblance of life” to Jabalia, devastated by Israeli bombardment and fighting that destroyed schools, stadiums and homes and uprooted families many times.
In the courtyard of the school's shelter, the two sides battled over a trophy that one player said had been salvaged from the wreckage.
The game created a festive atmosphere, with spectators pulling out their chairs and leaning over the railings of the three-story venue to cheer.
A group of boys crowded onto the empty bed of the truck to get a better view.
“We will play despite hunger and thirst, we will compete because we love life,” read one child's sign in both English and Arabic.
Jabalia has been hit particularly hard by Israel's offensive launched in May, part of a savage campaign targeting northern Gaza – an area the army previously said was beyond the control of Hamas militants.
As the fighting rages, aid agencies scramble to deliver aid and warn of impending famine.
Residents told AFP that there was barely any food left in the north and what little did get to them came at an astronomical price.
For the footballers, the match offered a rare escape from worries about food and water shortages.
They have been unable to play since the October 7 war sparked by Hamas attacks that left 1,197 people dead in Israel, mostly civilians, according to AFP statistics based on Israeli official figures.
The militants also took 251 hostages, of whom 116 remain in Gaza, including 44 the army says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 39,145 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory.
“Since the war in Gaza, we stayed away from sports because all the clubs were destroyed, all the fields were destroyed, but today we made something out of nothing,” said Saif Abu Saif, one of the players.
Gaza's Ministry of Education says 85 percent of the territory's educational facilities are out of order due to the war.
Many have been converted into shelters for war displaced people, as most of the 2.4 million people in the besieged belt have been uprooted several times.
Coach Wael Abu Saif said he was determined to take part in Tuesday's match despite still feeling pain from injuries sustained in the February attack. Now in a wheelchair, he said he lost the use of both legs.
“Since childhood I love football, I love tournaments, I love playing,” he told AFP.
“I want to prove to the whole world … that we continue to move forward with the most basic of our rights, which is to play football.”
