IDF says Palestinian soccer players it targeted served Hamas and Jihad terror groups

EXCLUSIVE: The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has told Fox News Digital that soccer players representing the Palestinian Authority it targeted with military strikes were allegedly also working as terrorists for Hamas and Jihadist groups.

"In recent weeks, false claims have been circulated alleging that the IDF deliberately targeted innocent Palestinian soccer players throughout the war," the IDF said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"In light of these claims, the IDF is now revealing the identities of Palestinian soccer players, referees, and coaches who were presented as athletes and innocent civilians, but who in fact served as terrorists in the military wings of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, and were struck and eliminated by the IDF during the war.

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"Following an intelligence assessment, the IDF can now disclose these terrorists’ organizational affiliations and operational roles. In many cases, they were portrayed internationally only as players, with no mention of their affiliation with terrorist organizations."

The IDF identified the players as Mohammed Mohammed Hassan Barakat, Mahmoud Kamal Mohammad Ali Al-Rifi, Mohammed Mansour, Ahmed Mohammed Hassan Abu Al-Atta, Abdullah Riyadh Abdullah Khattab, Ali Mahmoud Ahmed Al-Kurd, Mohammad Emad Ata Hussouna, Tariq Ziad Hussein Al-Hour, Mohammed Ziad Hussein Al-Hour, Mahmoud Osama Al-Jazzar and Mohammad Nidal Mohammed Al-Hawajri.

According to the IDF, three of the players were allegedly involved in the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, and others allegedly served in other terror operations and leadership roles.

"The false campaign portraying the IDF as deliberately targeting members of the soccer community, which was created as part of a broader effort promoted by various actors against the State of Israel, accompanies other false narratives advanced throughout the war," the IDF added.

"In those campaigns, Palestinian terrorists struck and eliminated by the IDF were presented as journalists, humanitarian aid workers, and other civilian professionals, while their involvement in terrorist activity was deliberately concealed in order to promote false claims that they had been targeted because of their civilian professions."

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations for a response to the IDF's claims.

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The official Palestinian Football Association (PFA) reported earlier this month that about 1,009 members of its athletic community had been killed by IDF forces since the war began in October 2023, according to Al Jazeera.

The IDF's exclusive disclosures come against the backdrop of a fierce diplomatic and public relations battle on the global sports stage.

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For over two years, the Palestinian Football Association, headed by Jibril Rajoub, has aggressively lobbied the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and FIFA to suspend Israel from international competition. Rajoub and the PFA have repeatedly cited the mounting death toll of Palestinian athletes and the destruction of sports infrastructure in Gaza as grounds for an immediate, indefinite ban.

The campaign reached a boiling point at recent FIFA Congresses. However, following extensive legal reviews, FIFA's Disciplinary Committee ultimately rejected the PFA's demands to suspend Israel entirely.

Instead, FIFA recently opted to impose a fine on the Israel Football Association (IFA) for unrelated disciplinary breaches and ordered the Israeli team to display a "Football Unites the World – No to Discrimination" banner during upcoming matches.

However, FIFA did not let the IFA walk away completely untouched. In a compromise measure, FIFA's Disciplinary Committee opted to penalize the Israeli association for unrelated disciplinary breaches.

The IFA was fined 150,000 Swiss francs (approximately $190,700) for multiple breaches of anti-discrimination obligations. Additionally, FIFA ordered the IFA to implement a mandatory anti-discrimination prevention plan and required the Israeli team to prominently display "Football Unites the World – No to Discrimination" banners during upcoming matches.