"Like dozens of national football teams, Spain will be hoping to secure its place at the 2026 World Cup in the current international window. But, for more than 50,000 fans in the San Mames stadium in the northern city of Bilbao on Saturday, the focus of attention was squarely on two teams who won't be there: the Palestine and Basque Country national football teams."
"As everyone DW spoke with on the day did, he mentioned the genocide in Gaza, as determined by a UN commission of inquiry in September , the findings of which were rejected by Israel. Current estimates put the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza in over two years of Israeli attacks at approaching 70,000. The strikes were preceded by the Hamas-led incursion into Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed nearly 1,200 people."
More than 50,000 people packed San Mamés in Bilbao to watch a match between the Palestine and Basque Country national teams, with streets filled with Palestinian flags. Money raised from the match went to Doctors Without Borders and pre-match entertainment blended both cultures. Basque organisers framed the game as an act of solidarity after Palestine's World Cup elimination. Organisers and attendees cited the Gaza situation, noting a UN commission's finding of genocide and estimates of nearly 70,000 Palestinian deaths over two years of Israeli attacks, and referenced the October 7, 2023 Hamas incursion that killed nearly 1,200 people.
Read at www.dw.com
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