Palestine FA: Ex-national team player killed in Israeli airstrike

The Palestinian Football Federation says former national team member Mohammed Barakat was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip.

The federation says Barakat, 39, was killed Monday in a strike on a residential building in the southern town of Khan Younis.

Affectionately nicknamed “the lion” by his fellow players, Barakat played for the national team as well as a number of clubs in Gaza, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. He began his professional career in 2015 with Shabab Khanyounis, where he became the first player from Gaza to score 100 goals with a single team.

Gaza's health ministry says more than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. The Palestinian Football Federation says 158 athletes, including 91 footballers from different divisions, were among those killed.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostages.