Alaa al-Dali says that he wants to wave the Palestinian flag not only for himself but for ‘all of Palestine’ (Picture: Getty)
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.’
Alaa is the founder of the Gaza Sunbirds, a Palestinian para-cyclist team (Picture: Mohamed Dahmani)
Athletes in Gaza have been delivering aid, becoming a crucial lifeline for those facing famine (Picture: Mohamed Soleimane Alaa was injured during the Great Return March, in which tens of thousands of Palestinians protested along the barbed-wire security fence with Israel (Picture: Lidia Ravviso)
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.’
Only a few members have been able to leave the Gaza Strip (Picture: Lidia Ravviso)
The team have long had their eyes on the Paralympic Games, having lost their chance to compete in Tokyo 2020 (Picture: Lidia Ravviso)
The Gaza Sunbirds have struggled to leave Gaza due to complex border policies (Picture: Lidia Ravviso)
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.
The conflict between Israel and the armed Palestinian Hamas militant group has lasted more than 280 days (Picture: AFP)
Gazan health officials say Israeli forces have killed at least 38,000 people (Picture: Anadolu)
Palestinians need special permits from the Israeli government to access healthcare outside of the occupied territories (Picture: AFP)
After border officials denied Alaa’s health permit
