'He was ashamed to go there': Wife mourns killing of 'Palestinian Pele' at Gaza aid site

During a footballing career spanning decades, Palestinian footballer Suleiman al-Obeid played 24 times for the Palestinian national team and earned the accolade the “Palestinian Pele” for a style that resembled the Brazilian legend.

For all his achievements on the pitch, his life ended on Friday, like hundreds of fellow Palestinians in Gaza, when he was killed by the Israeli army while collecting aid for his family from a US and Israel-backed aid distribution point in Rafah, southern Gaza.

Obeid had joined crowds of aid seekers after months of siege and Israeli-imposed starvation, and saw no other way of feeding his family.

According to witnesses, an Israeli quadcopter dropped a munition on him at the site, killing him instantly.

Israeli soldiers and foreign security contractors have killed close to 1,400 Palestinians at aid distribution points run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial food distribution operation that replaced aid distribution networks run by humanitarian groups.

Read more: 'He was ashamed to go there': Wife mourns killing of 'Palestinian Pele' at Gaza aid site