Gaza Conflict and World Cup

Hundreds of football fans across Gaza gathered among the ruins of shattered buildings to watch Tuesday's Argentina v Egypt World Cup match, with thousands viewing screenings projected onto sheets despite continuing Israeli military operations.

Egypt's head coach Hossam Hassan used the post-match stage to call for greater support for Palestinians after his side's 3-2 defeat. The screenings carried a heavy cost: hours before kickoff, an Israeli strike killed Mohammad al Waheidi, one of the main organisers of the public viewings.

Although a ceasefire has nominally been in place in Gaza since last October, Israeli attacks and military operations have not stopped. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 3,500 wounded since the truce began, according to Gaza's health ministry. Fans still turned out en masse to cheer for Egypt, even as the result went against them.

Mohamed al-Wahidi, director of the Egyptian Committee in Gaza, was killed on 8 July in an Israeli airstrike that hit a car in the Sabra district of Gaza City, roughly an hour before Egypt's World Cup fixture against Argentina. The strike also killed two boys aged 8 and 10 and another man, according to hospital officials.

The Israeli military confirmed the strike but said al-Wahidi was not the intended target and that the operation was aimed at a member of Hamas's military wing. Al-Wahidi, 57, had been involved in organising World Cup viewing events for Gazans who have largely backed Egypt during the tournament.

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military operations since an October 2024 ceasefire, bringing the overall death toll since the war began in October 2023 to over 73,000.

Israeli air strikes and gunfire killed at least nine Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, including a 10-year-old and a 6-year-old, medical sources said. The violence marks a continued erosion of the ceasefire reached in October 2025.

An air strike on a tent for displaced people in al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, killed four, including the 10-year-old, while a separate strike near a school in Gaza City killed one person and wounded 12. A 6-year-old boy was killed by Israeli gunfire in the Zeitoun neighbourhood. Mohammed al-Wahidi, a member of an Egyptian relief committee, was killed in a strike on a vehicle that also fatally wounded two children, according to Al-Shifa hospital sources. The Israeli military said it targeted Hamas militants in the attacks.

Since the October 2025 truce, at least 1,084 Palestinians have been killed in what are described as Israeli violations. The overall death toll since the conflict began in October 2023 has reached at least 73,110.