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The Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) condemns the murder of Palestinian goalkeeper Saleem Al-Ashqar in Gaza by the settler Israeli regime. The CPS conveys its message of condolences to Al-Ashqar’s wife and their entire family for the loss. We also send our message of condolences to the Palestinian people for the loss.

The CPS reiterates its call for the international isolation of the apartheid regime of Israel, including the sports and academic boycott of the regime until the people of Palestine are free.

On Monday, during the course of the FIFA World Cup, the occupying army targeted 32-year-old goalkeeper Saleem Khader Al-Ashqar, who played for Gaza's Khadamat Khan Younis football club, as he was fetching water for his pregnant wife, and murdered him. The couple was expecting their first child when Al-Ashqar was murdered.

Since the outbreak of Israel's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, the occupation army has killed 1,009 Palestinian athletes, including 567 individuals from the football community alone. While the recorded deaths in Gaza since October 2023 stand at close to 75,000 people, independent studies have uncovered that the deaths far exceed 100,000 when considering the indirect deaths that have been caused by Israel's bombardments, including missing individuals presumed dead under the rubble and deaths from disease.

In light of Isreal’s continued genocide of the people of Palestine, the CPS calls for the urgent sports and academic isolation of apartheid Israel. The silence of the FIFA leadership in light of such continuous crimes against sportspersons in Palestine under the yoke of Israeli apartheid now amounts to abating a genocide and should be condemned. As the CPS, we call upon the justice-loving people of the world and governments to use all practical measures to tighten the noose on this murderous Israeli regime.

Issued by: the Communist Party of Swaziland.