Paris Olympics begin as sports world reeling from loss of 400 Palestinian athletes in Gaza war
The 2024 Olympic Games kick off in Paris as the sports world suffers from losing hundreds of potential Palestinian Olympians to the Israeli regime’s ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
The French capital held the event’s inauguration ceremony on Friday, with more than 10,000 athletes in attendance from over 200 countries.
Palestine, however, is represented by no more than eight athletes, having lost scores of would-be Olympians in the Israeli regime’s deadly aggression against Gaza.
About 400 Palestinian athletes have been killed since October 7, when the regime began waging the war on the territory, figures provided by the Palestinian Olympic Committee and Palestine Football Association (PFA) show.
The fatalities include 245 footballers, including 69 children and 176 young men.
Earlier this year, human rights monitor Euro-Med reported that the brutal military onslaught had razed down numerous sports facilities in the coastal sliver, including "300 five-a-side courts, 22 swimming courts, 12 covered sports halls for basketball, volleyball, and handball, and six tennis stadiums.”
Recounting the extent of the destruction in a letter to FIFA last month, the PFA said, "The entire football infrastructure in Gaza has been either destroyed or severely damaged."
The Israeli regime has staged a prolific presence in the games, with as many as 88 participants, despite vociferous international calls for imposition of a ban on Israeli participation in the event in light of Tel Aviv’s atrocities.
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