Gaza World Cup screenings organiser killed in Israeli strike
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- Mohammed al-Wahidi, 65, a senior official with the Egypt-backed Egyptian Relief Committee in Gaza and a former English teacher, was killed when an Israeli missile struck the taxi he was travelling in through Gaza City's Sabra neighbourhood, along with three others including two brothers aged 8 and 10.
- The Israeli military said it had struck a Hamas operative and was aware of claims that uninvolved individuals were killed in the strike.
- Al-Wahidi had recently organized public World Cup screenings in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, and al-Mawasi to give displaced families — particularly children — a brief escape from war; Egypt's matches drew large crowds reflecting longstanding cultural ties between Palestinians in Gaza and their Egyptian neighbours.
- He was killed just hours before the screening he organized for Egypt's last-16 match against Argentina — a fixture Al Jazeera separately framed as 'a referendum on Palestine' — deepening the sense of loss.
- Within hours of his death, social media was flooded with photographs, videos, and condolence messages from volunteers and displaced families who described him as a field-based figure who preferred direct engagement over office-based coordination.
- At least 73,118 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures the UN considers reliable.
- The UN had recorded the killing of at least 593 humanitarian workers in Gaza since the war began, including eight since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreed 10 months ago.
Why it matters: Al-Wahidi's killing underscores the lethal risks facing Gaza's aid workers — 593 killed since the war began, per the UN — and the near-total collapse of communal safe spaces, as he was slain hours before organizing a World Cup screening explicitly designed to give displaced children a moment of normalcy.
