Members of the West Bank-based Ahli al-Khalil football team entered the blockaded Gaza Strip late Tuesday – via Israel’s Erez border crossing – for the first time in 15 years.
Ahli al-Khalil will play against Gaza’s Ittihad al-Shejaiya team on Thursday for the final match of the Palestinian Football Cup before returning to the West Bank on August 9.
“The Israeli authorities had refused to allow either team to travel between the Gaza Strip and the [Israeli-occupied] West Bank until the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) lodged a complaint with FIFA about Israel’s discriminatory actions,” PFA Vice Secretary-General Mohamed al-Emsi told Anadolu Agency.
Thursday’s final in the Gaza Strip will be the first such match since 2000, when a popular uprising erupted against Israel’s decades-long occupation in which thousands of Palestinians were killed.
