HAzem Suleiman is a member of gaza sunbirdsa paracycling team based in Gaza. The former soccer player lost a leg in 2018 when he was shot during a protest at the Rafah border. We first spoke to him five months ago as part of our “Voices of Gaza” series about the daily lives of Palestinians. At the time, Suleiman, who also photographs and documents life in Gaza, was dealing with the toll of evacuation from his home in Rafah to the town of Khan Younis.
He and the other Sunbirds had been training hard with the aim of representing Palestine at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, but the Israeli attack on Gaza following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 After that, I was unable to realize this dream. They at least achieved their goal of competing in an international competition for the first time this May at the Para-Cycling Road World Cup in Belgium and Italy.
Suleiman has been expelled twice since we last spoke. A few days after the July conversation, he fled from western Khan Yunis towards Rafah on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip. He knows exactly how long he and his young family of 10 were sheltering near Rafah. 41 days. In late September, they returned to the Khan Yunis area and pitched their blue tents in the same location.
“When we came back, everything was destroyed. It wasn't the same as it was before we left. Sometimes I still hear the sounds of artillery fire and the sounds of tents and nearby buildings being bombed.” he says. On his way home, he saw the bodies of several friends and neighbors.
The drone buzzing overhead was so loud that at times it completely drowned out Suleiman's voice. He flipped his phone over to show the destruction of the sand-colored apartment complex known as Hamad City. He said the interior of the building was destroyed by Israeli artillery fire. In the shadow of an abandoned building, he points the camera down to show the flowers and peppers he's been planting since his return.
“When I got back, I brought some tiles from the road and put them inside the tent,” he says. “Partly this is because we don't want to live with sand floors, but it also shows that this is our home. We value these details.”
Even the road that Suleiman had previously described as being used for short bicycle trips has been damaged beyond recognition in the months since. Smooth asphalt lanes were replaced by sandy dirt roads littered with shattered concrete. “All the decent roads have been destroyed and it's very difficult for even the best cyclists to use the roads,” he says. “My bike is great and I’m a good athlete, but it’s still very difficult.”
When Gaza Sunbirds co-founder Alaa Al-Dari fled Gaza and played matches in Belgium and Italy last May, it was the peak of the group's sporting achievements. But the question of what the team should do next, along with other questions about what it means to be in a paracycling group where many people don't have the ability to train, don't have homes, and don't even have bikes. It became a big problem.
Leaving Gaza used to be very difficult, but now it is impossible. Sambirds' other co-founder, Karim Ali, said the company stopped keeping track of the number of people he knew who were killed last year. “We have to adapt to the situation the world is in, but the whole system is not built for it,” he says.
The group primarily works to deliver aid to people suffering in Gaza. There, people face constant loss and struggle to support themselves and their families. They are working to ensure that the food aid organized by Sunbirds reaches people under these circumstances. Sharp decline in aid accessIt became. even worse Since October (they rely heavily on donations from abroad) Go to Fund Me page). Their latest initiative is a pizza-making workshop for thousands of Gazan children.
They also hope to raise enough money to help tens of thousands of people. New amputees in Gaza. “Gaza needs an advocate for people with disabilities, and I hope Sambars can play that role in the future,” Ali said. “When communities are finally able to rebuild in an accessible way, we will need to put people with disabilities in the driver’s seat…Our goal is to create a building for amputees in Gaza. Establishing a paracycling and rehabilitation center.”
Suleiman said he refused to evacuate for the race in Belgium because he didn't want to leave his family behind. “Even if I had the choice to live in any part of the world, I would always choose Gaza. There is a relationship between Gaza and its people that no one can understand. I never want to leave this place. No,” he said.
In September he founded an aid organization. malham charity teamto deliver hot food to neighbors. He hopes to grow it enough to deliver aid across Gaza and abroad.
“My biggest dream is that tomorrow we wake up and there's a ceasefire. This is what we always hope for,” he says. “But my first and last journey is to get a prosthetic leg. I have a bacterial problem in the bone where my leg was amputated, so I can't wear a prosthetic leg. My dream is to one day have a prosthetic leg. to be able to wear it.”
Whenever he passes other amputees, Suleiman stops to talk to them and offer advice. He still wakes up at 6 a.m. every day to collect food while battling soaring prices, and tries to catch a glimpse of the ocean while riding his bike.
“I know that I am unstoppable, that I can continue working with one foot, that I risk my life to take pictures even during a war, that I can tell the world what is happening, even after the shells have fallen. I want to prove to the world that our home, we rose from under the rubble. ”
