Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on August 9, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Mohamed Salah criticizes UEFA's tribute to Suleiman Al-Obeid, urging clarity on his death amid the ongoing Gaza conflict.
(Reuters) -Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah on Saturday criticised UEFA's tribute to the late Suleiman Al-Obeid, known as the "Palestinian Pele," after European soccer's governing body failed to reference the circumstances surrounding his death this week.
The Palestine Football Association said that Al-Obeid, 41, was killed by an Israeli strike targeting civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
In a brief post on the social media platform X, UEFA called the former national team member "a talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times."
Salah responded: "Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?"
UEFA was not immediately avialable to comment.
One of the Premier League's biggest stars, the 33-year-old Egyptian Salah has previously advocated for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza in the nearly two-year-old war.
The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed near aid distribution sites and aid convoys in Gaza since the launch of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S. and Israel-backed aid distribution system, in late May.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, additional reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Ken Ferris)
Mohamed Salah, the Liverpool forward, criticized UEFA's tribute.
Suleiman Al-Obeid was killed by an Israeli strike targeting civilians in the southern Gaza Strip.
UEFA described Al-Obeid as 'a talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times.'
Salah has previously advocated for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza amidst the ongoing conflict.
The United Nations reports that over 1,000 people have been killed near aid distribution sites in Gaza since the launch of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
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