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The IDF claims Palestinian soccer players killed during the war allegedly served as terrorists for Hamas and Islamic Jihad in operational roles.
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"Following an intelligence assessment, the IDF can now disclose these terrorists’ organizational affiliations and operational roles. In many cases, they were portrayed internationally only as players, with no mention of their affiliation with terrorist organizations.
" The IDF identified the players as Mohammed Mohammed Hassan Barakat, Mahmoud Kamal Mohammad Ali Al-Rifi, Mohammed Mansour, Ahmed Mohammed Hassan Abu Al-Atta, Abdullah Riyadh Abdullah Khattab, Ali Mahmoud Ahmed Al-Kurd, Mohammad Emad Ata Hussouna, Tariq Ziad Hussein Al-Hour, Mohammed Ziad Hussein Al-Hour, Mahmoud Osama Al-Jazzar and Mohammad Nidal Mohammed Al-Hawajri. According to the IDF, three of the players were allegedly involved in the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, and others allegedly served in other terror operations and leadership roles.
"The 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," the IDF added. "In those campaigns, Palestinian terrorists struck and eliminated by the IDF were presented as journalists, humanitarian aid workers, and other civilian professionals, whileactivity was deliberately concealed in order to promote false claims that they had been targeted because of their civilian professions.
" Fox News Digital has reached out to the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations for a response to the IDF's claims. IRAN ALLEGEDLY USED SOCCER CLUBS TO SPY ON CITIZENS, OPPOSITION GROUP URGES FIFA BAN REGIME BEFORE WORLD CUP FIFA President Gianni Infantino shakes hands with Basim Sheikh Suliman , vice president of the Israeli Football Association, as Jibril Rajoub , president of the Palestine Football Association, leaves the stage at the 76th FIFA Congress in Vancouver, Canada on April 30, 2026.
The official Palestinian Football Association reported earlier this month that about 1,009 members of its athletic community had been killed by IDF forces since the war began in October 2023, according to The IDF's exclusive disclosures come against the backdrop of a fierce diplomatic and public relations battle on the global sports stage. and FIFA to suspend Israel from international competition.
Rajoub and the PFA have repeatedly cited the mounting death toll of Palestinian athletes and the destruction of sports infrastructure in Gaza as grounds for an immediate, indefinite ban. Instead, FIFA recently opted to impose a fine on the Israel Football Association for unrelated disciplinary breaches and ordered the Israeli team to display a"Football Unites the World – No to Discrimination" banner during upcoming matches.
However, FIFA did not let the IFA walk away completely untouched. In a compromise measure, FIFA's Disciplinary Committee opted to penalize the Israeli association for unrelated disciplinary breaches. The IFA was fined 150,000 Swiss francs for multiple breaches of anti-discrimination obligations.
Additionally, FIFA ordered the IFA to implement a mandatory anti-discrimination prevention plan and required the Israeli team to prominently display"Football Unites the World – No to Discrimination" banners during upcoming matches. Jackson Thompson is a sports reporter for Fox News Digital covering critical political and cultural issues in sports, with an investigative lens.
Jackson's reporting has been cited in federal government actions related to the enforcement of Title IX, and in legacy media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Associated Press and ESPN.com.
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