‘I want to become the first Palestinian para-cyclist to compete at the Paralympics’

The bullet that tore into Alaa al-Dali felt more like a grenade than a tiny bit of metal, smashing apart 22cm of his right leg bone.

For years, the pro-cyclist biked up and down the Gaza Strip, hoping one day to enter the Olympic Games waving the Palestinian flag.

In 2018, this dream seemed closer than ever before. Alaa, then 21, qualified for the Asian Games – but Palestinians cannot leave the coastal enclave without a special permit granted by Israel.

With his career up in the air, Alaa knew he had to take part in the Great Return March – a string of protests along the border between Gaza and Israel – on March 30, 2018.

‘I decided to participate in the protests on my bicycle and in full cycling gear to call for my right of return as an athlete unable to leave Gaza,’ Alaa, now 27, told Metro.co.uk.

‘The Israeli occupation responded to my demands with brutality and by shooting at me with an explosive bullet, leading to the amputation of my leg.’

According to a UN report, Israeli forces shot Alaa as he stood beside his bike about 300m away from the barbed-wire fence in Rafah. He was just ‘watching the demonstration’, the report says.

‘I felt defeated because not only did I lose my leg – such a big part of my body – but I also effectively lost my ability to play my sport and fulfil my dream of raising the Palestinian flag on the world stage,’ Alaa added.

‘I lost my job and my means of earning a living wage. It destroyed me; I felt as though I had lost everything.’

But one thing he never lost was his dreams.

Alaa went on to form the Gaza Sunbirds, a para-cycling group whose members lost limbs in Israeli attacks such as the Great Reform March.

And soon, he may become one of the first Palestinian para-cyclists to compete at the Paralympic Games in Paris in August. Since 2000, 10 Palestinians have competed in the Summer Paralympics – mostly in athletics but never para-cycling.

‘The idea of us being there is really important to us,’ Alaa says, ‘and to all of Palestine.’

Before the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza Sunbirds had 24 athletes – some as young as 12 and as old as 47. Then, the Israeli bombs fell, destroying their bicycles and the streets around them and splitting the team apart.

‘We feared for our lives, and it was very difficult, but we eventually decided that we wanted to help our community and those whose limbs were amputated like us,’ says Alaa.

Gaza has long faced an ‘amputee crisis’. Roughly 10 Gazan children a day have a leg amputated, often without anaesthesia or pain medication due to shortages.

The Gaza Sunbirds estimate that 3,000 people in Gaza are amputees, ‘one of the highest rates of amputation in the world’.

One reason for this, Alaa says, is how difficult it can be for Palestinians to receive healthcare outside of Gaza.

Medical supplies in Gaza have long been few and far between in Gaza due to a 16-year blockade, backed by Egypt, that limits the import of goods. Gazans must apply for permits to leave the strip to seek treatment in the West Bank or Israel.

After border officials denied Alaa’s health permit, Israel ‘seemed determined to make sure that there was no solution except for the doctors to amputate my leg’.

‘There were many others like me as well who were not allowed to receive medical attention,’ Alaa says. ‘Israel was determined to inflict disabilities on as much of the Gazan population as possible.’

Hamas, a militant group which governs the Gaza Strip, launched surprise cross-border raids against Israel on October 7 that killed 1,200 people and took 220 people hostage.

Since then, Israeli forces have killed at least 38,000 Palestinians and injured 88,000, according to the Gazan health ministry. The death toll is likely far higher, researchers say, and could be as high as 186,000.

Throughout the war, Gaza Sunbird athletes have ridden their bikes carrying food, sanitary products and baby essentials to ease the humanitarian catastrophe engulfing their homes.

‘We delivered a great amount of aid,’ Alaa says, ‘and we’re still delivering it, doing our best to help those who are in need and unable to feed their families.’

Alaa, coach Hassan Abu Harb and team member Mohammed Asfour were evacuated from Gaza in April, allowing them to take part in a tournament in Belgium – the Gaza Sunbird’s first international competition. The chances of this happening had been ‘very slim’ at best for months.

‘We were in Gaza, living under death, genocide, and starvation. It was very difficult,’ Alaa says. ‘But thank God, that small hope, that 5% chance, allowed us to travel to Egypt and from Egypt to Belgium.’

Alaa, having finished 25th in the race without using a prosthetic leg, was alongside Hassan granted a visa to compete at a Paracycling World Cup event in Maniago, Italy, just two days before the race. He came 22nd.

‘Competing in Belgium and Italy meant a lot to us. We were able to raise the Palestinian flag in these two countries, and we received great support from our audience,’ recalls Alaa.

‘It was beautiful, and although we didn’t rank very high, we were honoured to be present and to compete.’

Alaa also pedalled with one leg in the Asian Road Cycling Championship in Kazakhstan, qualifying for the Paracycling World Championships in Switzerland.

As he trains with coach Hassan in Malaysia, all Alaa can do is wait to see if he will represent Palestine in the Paralympics.

On top of a visa, Paralympic organisers need to grant his application for a wildcard. A wildcard is a ticket to the Olympics for countries that fail to produce athletes who meet qualification standards.

‘We have the right to compete in the Paralympic Games and any other global competition, just as all athletes do,’ says Alaa.

His teammates’ hundreds of miles away in Gaza – his home – continue to get on their bikes. Gaza Sunbirds have partnered with the NGO Sharek Youth Forum to build a displacement camp in Deir al Balah.

Hundreds of thousands have had little choice but to squeeze into the gutted city, about 14km south of Gaza City, amid months of Israeli evacuation orders.

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At the 25-tent compound, which neighbours two other displaced camps, volunteers from the aid provider World Food Kitchen give meals and water to displaced Palestinians.

The three groups hope to soon offer community programmes to displaced Palestinians in the city, such as aid parcels or support groups.

Alaa, however, hopes none of this will happen. Rather, he hopes there won’t be any need for them soon. Especially by the time he’s in Paris.

‘Hopefully, the assault on Gaza will be over,’ he says, ‘and we’ll be able to come back stronger.’

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