Palestinian para-cyclist Alaa al-Dali has long dreamed about representing his people on an international stage.
Following months of grueling training, al-Dali – an amputee with one leg – is putting everything he has into training for the Para-Cycling World Championships in August, after he and teammate Mohamed Asfour became the first Palestinians to finish in the top 20 at the Para-Cycling World Cup in May, securing their place in the prestigious competition.
But keeping his mind on training is challenging most days, and near impossible on some, as his thoughts go towards the war in Gaza, where distressing images of skeletal children are pouring out of the area, causing international outrage over starvation and mounting concern over restrictions on food and aid ordered by Israel.
“My family is in Gaza. My children are in Gaza. There is famine now. There’s a genocide happening. We are going through a very difficult time now,” al-Dali told CNN Sports.
“Our people in Gaza, they are under bombardment, under threat of being killed all the time,” he said, explaining that he has lost over 30 friends and family to the war, with scores more injured. Meanwhile, his wife and two children are trapped in Gaza as health officials report more deaths from malnutrition and among people desperately trying to get aid from convoys and distribution sites.
“My children are starving, and all I can do is look at them on a screen,” al-Dali said.
More than 60,000 people have died and over 146,000 have been injured in Gaza from Israeli strikes and military action after more than 21 months of fighting, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which does not differentiate between civilians and militants.
The 28-year-old al-Dali’s path to the cycling spotlight has been marred by injury and tragedy.
In 2018, having qualified to be part of the Palestinian cycling team at the Asian Games later that year, he was shot during the first of the Great March of Return protests on March 30, and ultimately, had to have his leg amputated.
Al-Dali is just one of 35,000 protestors who sustained injuries during the 2018 Great March of Return, according to research from The Institute for Palestine Studies, an independent nonprofit research and publication center, which notes that this was “due to the deliberate targeting of protesters’ limbs by Israeli snipers.”
The Great March of Return demonstrations were protests to “demand the end of the Israeli blockade and the right of return for refugees,” according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
One in five of those injured – over 8,000 people – were hit by live ammunition, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and 156 people had to have limb amputations as a result.
At the time, the Israeli military said its snipers fired at the feet or legs of those who tried to penetrate into Israel, which they said followed international law.
Looking back on that fateful day in 2018, al-Dali told CNN that losing his leg almost killed his dreams of being an athlete once and for all.
“I felt that I lost hope, as if I had lost my life and lost everything. And the amputation was a very big matter for me. I would not be able to complete and I was deprived of participating in Jakarta,” he said.
But in spite of this, al-Dali pushed on.
Determined to fulfill his childhood dream to represent his people in cycling, he slowly started learning how to ride a bike with one leg. In 2020, he founded the Gaza Sunbirds, a para cycling team that also distributes aid to those in need in the form of food parcels, hot meals, shelter, and a universal basic income scheme for those with disabilities. To date, the Sunbirds have distributed more than over $400,000 worth of aid, according to their website.
“We are not only delivering aid to people, but we are also giving them a glimmer of hope in this life,” he told CNN Sports. “The support that we are providing to our people is a small part compared to the suffering they are living through.
“The bike is not just a tool that I ride, to finish a race, or ride it for training. The bike for me is a big part of my life. It has become a part of my soul, and my soul is the bike,” al-Dali added.
‘The bike … has become part of my soul’
“Despite this situation, and despite everything, we gathered ourselves as a team. We started training and going out to ride our bikes, short rides. But we were under bombardment, the danger of death, and threats at that time.
“We even used bikes there as a means of transportation because transportation had almost stopped in Gaza.”
Members of the Sunbirds team are sounding the alarm about the desperate situation inside Gaza, with Karim Ali, the London-based co-founder of the Gaza Sunbirds, describing amputee athletes and staff as “starving to death as they fight to continue delivering aid in the strip.”
“In what world is it acceptable that aid workers – who are supposed to be the ones feeding the starving – are deteriorating themselves and barely have enough sustenance to support themselves? How can a dying population be relying on people who haven’t eaten for days at a time and struggle to get out of bed?” he told CNN Sports.
“We all have responsibility to put on the pressure and say enough to this forced mass starvation and enough to this genocide,” Ali added.
Israel has vehemently denied any accusations that it is committing genocide and has consistently argued that it is acting in accordance with international law and that its war in Gaza following the deadly Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023 is one of self-defense.
Al-Dali now lives in Belgium, where he is seeking asylum, after he and a delegation were evacuated from Gaza earlier this year in order to compete in races in Europe and Kazakhstan.
Alongside a small team of athletes, coaches and support staff, al-Dali was evacuated into Egypt and got short-stay visas to race in the World Cup in Belgium. After traveling the world and competing in eight races, al-Dali returned to Belgium on his own to claimed asylum while the assault on Gaza rages on. He continues to wait for his asylum to be approved in Belgium.
“An athlete should be psychologically in comfort. They need to be able to sleep well. They need to be able to rest well. Psychological relief is essential for the sport,” he explained.
“We are trying to be champions, but we are not champions because we are going through very difficult times.
“I get worried. I get scared constantly. I have nightmares about the safety of my family. I’m always worried about losing someone new,” he said.
‘We just want to live like families everywhere’
That fear is not unfounded. On May 19, al-Dali’s cousin and fellow Sunbird Ahmed al-Dali was killed in a missile strike on Gaza.
Ahmed, he explained, was a father to three daughters and had recently welcomed a son. Ahmed was also an amputee, having lost his leg in 2014. Al-Dali told CNN Sports that his cousin was passionate about cycling and loved fixing bicycles.
“He was a great human being, very optimistic, always laughing, and making us laugh,” al-Dali said. “His leg was amputated, but he continued his life. He challenged everything in his life, and he continued his future.”
He said that his late cousin’s bravery was one of the things that made him so admirable.
“Even when Ahmed was killed, he was going to save other people,” al-Dali recounted, explaining that his cousin was trying to help people injured by an airstrike, when a second attack came and ultimately claimed his life.
“So you can imagine how great of a person he is, while trying to save people’s lives, only having one leg. He is a figure for me, and his memory should live on,” al-Dali said.
“I will try to deliver Ahmed’s message. I will raise his voice with God’s word in the international events, as much as I can, and also we will as a team.”
Al-Dali will next cycle at the World Championships in Belgium in August, alongside teammate Mohamed Asfour.
“We exemplify that people with disabilities do continue their lives and they will also be able to continue with their lives.”
