DEKYAS NEWS World Breaking News and Trusted Source
Related Articles
For most child athletes, sports usually take place in a gymnasium, or on an outdoor or indoor field. But for Wassim Naqqar, the war in Gaza has forced him to practice in unusual places — on top of a demolished building, in refugee camps, and sometimes on the sand by the sea.
The 11-year-old was the Palestinian territory’s top gymnastics champion before the war began. But after he was forced to flee northern Gaza in April as fighting escalated in the area, he left the Palestine Club in Sheikh Redwan, where he would train in gymnastics, yoga and parkour, a sport that involves running, swinging and jumping in urban areas.
His favorite sport of the three? Gymnastics. But because the region is torn apart by war, he often ends up on the rubble, he says.
“When the war started [it] “Everything is destroyed,” Naqqar said.
He says he has mastered gymnastics: “I won’t let anyone beat me in that.”
Brother, sister killed in war
Naqqar, who began parkour and gymnastics at age four, was set to compete in the Middle East, Canada and India. But when war broke out between Israel and Hamas, those dreams were shattered.
Now Naqqar does the splits on top of the ruins or roller skates along gravel paths through a refugee camp.
Naqqar’s brother, sister, uncle and cousin were all killed in the war. He says his brother was his biggest supporter.
“I have no one left. Where can we go? There are no safe places left for us to go.”
The war began after a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, which killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli figures. The Israeli incursion into the Strip has killed more than 41,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Wassim Naqqar, 11, practices his backflips on gravel near a refugee camp west of Khan Younis in Gaza, hoping to one day return to his sports club in the north. He and his father recently began training about 60 children in gymnastics and parkour, a way to keep them moving as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on for nearly a year.
Gymnastics halted after father’s arrest
The dead in Gaza included about 300 athletes, referees, coaches and others from the sports sector, the technical director of the Palestinian Olympic Committee said. figure to The Associated Press in July.
His father, Hab Al-Din Naqqar, says the family fled northern Gaza on April 28 and went to Rafah for safety. Just two months later, he says, he was detained by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on June 2 and held for about three months.
CBC News contacted the IDF to ask about Naqqar’s arrest, but said it could not provide information or confirm details.
When Naqqar was released, he said his son was not the same anymore.
“The feeling was, pure torture,” said Naqqam, who revealed that he was unable to do any gymnastics at all during the three months his father was away. “I couldn’t imagine my father being taken away in front of me.”
“Right now we are training Wassim and trying to give him energy again,” Hab Al-Din Naqqar said. “We are giving him hope and vitality again.”
As the war between Israel and Hamas continues in Gaza after more than three months, these young men find moments of joy as part of a group that does parkour on the remains of destroyed neighborhoods. Some days, children from the nearby refugee camp gather to watch them run, jump and flip through the ruins.
Training of 60 children in war-torn area
He says he and his son recently started training about 60 children in gymnastics and parkour. Although they only started two weeks ago, Naqqar says it has given them a way to keep other children moving during the war.
“The athlete who is not killed is injured. If they are not injured, they are anemic due to malnutrition,” said Hab Al-Din Naqqar.
“About 90 percent of the athletes here have lost their athletic ability.”
Given the current limited resources, he says the duo can only contribute to a limited extent to keeping the sport alive in the region.
Now that the war between Israel and Hamas has been going on for almost a year, Wassim Naqqar says he finds moments of joy in staying active and exercising, even though he doesn’t know when he’ll be able to exercise again.
Whether he’s doing the splits atop the ruins or roller skating through a refugee camp, he says he hopes to one day compete again, both locally and internationally.
“God willing, the war will end so I can travel and represent Palestine worldwide and fulfill my brother’s dream [for me]”, he said.
