Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (C) passes the ball during the first half of the friendly football match between English Premier League side Liverpool and Japan’s J-League team Yokohama F. Marinos in Yokohama on July 30, 2025. (Photo by JIJI Press / AFP)
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has criticized Europe’s football governing body UEFA for posting a tribute to “Palestinian Pele” Suleiman al-Obeid that did not mention the former international died after being hit by Israeli gunfire in the Gaza Strip.
Obeid, 41, was killed on Wednesday when Israeli forces “targeted people waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip,” the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) said in a statement.
Can you tell us how he died, where, and why? https://t.co/W7HCyVVtBE
— Mohamed Salah (@MoSalah) August 9, 2025
READ: Salah sets goal record by inspiring Liverpool win over Tottenham
Europe’s football governing body UEFA posted on X: “Farewell to Suleiman al-Obeid, the ‘Palestinian Pele’. A talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times.”
Egyptian striker Salah responded by posting: “Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?”
Born in Gaza City, Obeid was married and had five children. He played 24 international matches for team Palestine.
In October 2023, Salah called on “world leaders to come together” to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza to “prevent further slaughter of innocent souls”.
Since the start of the Gaza war, triggered by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, 662 people from the sport and scouting sector have been killed, including 321 in the football community, according to the PFA.
Salah, who was the Premier League top scorer last season, is due to line up for Liverpool on Sunday in the Community Shield at Wembley against Crystal Palace, the traditional curtain-raiser to the English football season.
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