With the opening whistle of the first match of the "Cup of the Thousand Martyrs," football is back in Gaza, marking its return on Friday after a suspension of nearly three years due to the war.
But Gaza's sporting community has suffered heavy losses. Around 565 members of the Palestinian Football Association were killed during the war, while the overall death toll across the Palestinian sports community exceeded 1,000.
"We face many obstacles. As you can see, we are playing on a five-a-side pitch because all sports facilities in the southern governorates were destroyed by the Israeli occupation," said Sami Abu Al-Hussein, assistant secretary general of Palestinian Football Association.
Israel destroyed more than 50 of Gaza's 56 sports clubs and 285 sports facilities during the war, leaving few places for players to train or compete.
"This match, after three years of war, sends a powerful message that we are a people who love life, through sport and other aspects of life. We are a people who want to live, and this is the message we want to send to the world through sport," said Raji Ashour, coach of Shabab Rafah Club.
Meanwhile, at Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium in the West Bank, the first match of West Bank clubs also kicked off at the same time, as Palestinian football returned across different locations.
With Gaza's football stadiums destroyed, local clubs are forced onto small, five-a-side pitches. Yet even under these conditions, the sport game is underway again.
Palestinian football games reappear in Gaza after 3 years
Chinese Vice President Han Zheng met with Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Adrijana Mesarovic on Monday, who is in China to attend the 26th China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT) in Xiamen City, east China's Fujian Province.
Noting that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Serbia comprehensive strategic partnership, Han said that bilateral relations have achieved leapfrog development over recent years under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state. In May this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping met again with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, charting the course for building a China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era.
China is prepared to join hands with Serbia in implementing the important consensus of the two leaders, cementing political mutual trust, leveraging the preferential arrangements under the bilateral free trade agreement, and deepening cooperation in trade, investment, infrastructure and emerging industries, Han said.
China also encourages its enterprises to invest in Serbia and further advance China-Serbia friendly and cooperative relations, he noted.
Mesarovic said Serbia highly values high-level mutual trust between the two countries and reaffirms its adherence to the one-China policy. She expressed gratitude for China's strong support for Serbia's national development and said Serbia is ready to strengthen development synergy with China and continuously deepen cooperation in various fields to benefit the two peoples.
Chinese vice president meets Serbian Deputy Prime Minister
