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Palestinian Athletes Suffer Under Gaza Blockade

After years of Israeli blockade and repeated military offensives, Gaza's athletic facilities as well as the athletes themselves struggle to function, reports Hazem Balousha.
Gaza runner Bahaa al-Farra stretches during a training session as children mimic him while posing for the camera in Shati refugee camp in Gaza City March 25, 2012. The 19-year-old trains for three hours a day in Gaza's Yarmouk soccer stadium, along the dusty streets and on the beach in well worn trainers that were donated to the Palestine Olympic Committee by wealthy Gulf state, Qatar, as he prepares to race at the London Olympics. Picture taken March 25, 2012.    REUTERS/ Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: SPORT
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The scale of destruction was evident on the Yarmouk Sports Stadium, constructed in 1952 following Egyptian rule of the Gaza Strip. The stadium was bombed during Operation Pillar of Cloud by Israeli warplanes last November. There is a lack of financial resources to repair it again in the near future. Although the stadium court has been rebuilt, the stands — which could once accommodate thousands of spectators — have not.

Israeli missiles targeted the two main stadiums in the Gaza Strip — the Al Yarmouk and Palestine stadiums — in the last eight days of the war. This caused athletic activity to come to a halt in the Strip, after it had stopped for close to three years when Hamas took over the Strip and assumed control over sports clubs.

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