Palestinian football games reappear in Gaza after 3 years

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.

China opened 15 new international air cargo routes in September, adding 42 round-trip flights per week, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP)’s air logistics division said on Sunday.

The newly launched routes included nine to Asia, four to Europe, and two to North America.

The cargo transported on the routes mainly included cross-border e-commerce goods, fresh food and agricultural products, electromechanical and electronic products, high-end manufactured goods, and consumer goods for daily use.

The flights are operated by nine airlines, eight of which are Chinese carriers.

According to CFLP’s air logistics division, China had opened a total of 130 new international air cargo routes as of September 30 this year, adding more than 334 round-trip flights per week.