Palestinian youth footballer dies a week after settler attack in West Bank
The Palestine Football Association reports 1,013 sports movement deaths since October 2023 as violence escalates across the occupied territory.
Fadi Hamdallah al-Nassan, a 17-year-old Palestinian footballer and member of the national youth team, has died from gunshot wounds sustained during an attack by Israeli settlers in his West Bank village of al-Mughayyir. Al-Nassan was shot on July 11 and succumbed to his injuries on Saturday, a week after the incident, following the amputation of his leg.
The Palestine Football Association (PFA) confirmed that Israeli forces shot al-Nassan in the thigh while settlers were attacking the village. In a statement on X, the association noted that his death brings the total number of martyrs from the Palestinian sports movement since October 7, 2023, to 1,013, including 568 from the football community.
Al-Nassan played for Al-Mughayyir Club and was remembered by his family as a dedicated student and sportsman. His father, Hamdallah al-Nassan, stated that his son had run towards the scene of the assault after hearing women and girls screaming. His mother, Hanan al-Nassan, described him as a good student loved by everyone. Dozens of mourners dressed in black carried his body from the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah to his home village for burial on Saturday.
The death has intensified scrutiny on escalating settler violence in the occupied West Bank, where settlement building has expanded at an accelerating rate despite being illegal under international law. Rights groups and the United Nations have described Israel’s actions in the territory as a system of apartheid.
Separately on Saturday, Israeli forces and settlers carried out attacks in the West Bank, including burning olive groves near Ramallah and destroying a home near Nablus. In Deir Qaddis, west of Ramallah, Israeli soldiers fired live rounds and tear gas at Palestinian farmers, starting fires that civil defence crews were prevented from extinguishing. Near Nablus, settlers set fire to a Palestinian family’s home in the town of Tal, destroying it completely. Israeli forces also raided homes in Yabad and Mithlon, near Jenin.
