While Fadi Deeb, 39, has been diligently training in Paris in preparation for the Paralympic Games, the Gaza war is never far from his thoughts. “I am raising my flag here in Paris to show people that Palestine is not dying,” Deeb told France 24 in an interview. “We are still here, we are still fighting and we are still alive.”

Deeb – who has lost over 15 members of his family, including his brother, in the Israeli war on the Gaz Strip– is the only member of the Palestinian Olympic delegation from Gaza and the only Paralympic athlete from Palestine. His presence is significant, given that about 400 athletes and supporting staff have been killed since the October 7 last year, and others have been unable to train or travel due to Israeli bombing or restrictions, according to the Palestine Olympic Committee (POC). 

Born in Gaza City’s Shuja’iyaa district in 1984, Deeb was introduced to the world of sports when he was 10 years old by his primary school gym teacher and international referee Mohammed Elshekh Khalil, during which time he learned how to play football, volleyball, basketball, tennis and volleyball. Khalil also entered him into national competitions, including with the local Shuja’iyaa club. Upon starting secondary school, Deeb became even more interested in volleyball, eventually joining the Palestinian volleyball team in Gaza when he was just 16 years old. 

‘This is not the end of my life’

While Deeb was perfecting his sporting prowess and preparing to pursue his studies in computer science at Gaza's Al-Azhar University – which was hit by Israeli strikes in November – tensions were rising further between Israel and the Palestinian Territories, culminating in the Second Intifada from September 2000 to February 2005. Deeb remembers the exact day when he was shot in the back by an Israeli sniper, leaving him paralysed: October 4, 2001, when he was 17 years old.

“After I got my disability … we have an expression in the Arab language, which says ‘you must be like the water’, meaning you have to be flexible, nothing can stop you,” said Deeb. “I told myself ‘this is not the end of my life, it’s hard, but it’s not the end of my life’. You have to think positively. This powerful mentality and my religion helped me become more flexible when it comes to sport. I decided I would go from playing, for instance, table tennis and basketball to playing wheelchair table tennis and basketball.” 

Following a meeting with the technical manager of the Palestinian national athletics team in 2007, Deeb also began training and competing in shot put, discus and javelin, going on to win six medals in all three events at the Tunis International Athletics Meetings for the Disabled. While Deeb said he had ventured towards athletics as there is less need for expensive specialist equipment, training in Gaza is still a challenge. “Sometimes we don’t have enough equipment [in the Gaza Strip], even like shot put or discus,” said Deeb. “So we use something that looks like and is about the same weight like a rock, the wheels of a car or a piece of metal, something like that. Some of these items are heavier than the normal disk, but it’s no problem.” 

Basketball player and coach

While the Paris 2024 Paralympic Committee selected Deeb to compete in the shot put event, he is also an accomplished basketball player. Deeb has played for wheelchair basketball teams in Turkey, Greece and France, including his current first-division club Hurricane 92 Basketball, based in the Paris suburbs. He also joined the newly established Palestinian national basketball team in 2019, though Israel’s tight restrictions on travel from Gaza to the West Bank make it difficult for Palestinians to compete at home, let alone on the international stage.

Deeb also believes in the importance of giving back, as he coaches the fourth and fifth divisions of Paris Basket Fauteuil (PBF), a sports association created in May 2021 to help and encourage young people with disabilities to play wheelchair basketball.

“As a player, every time I have information, I share it. ... Just because I’m Palestinian doesn’t mean I only do this in Palestine, I share my information with everyone, to provide love and support to people of different cultures and religions,” said Deeb.

PBF’s outreach goes further, as Deeb regularly goes to schools and universities to teach “normal people (as Deeb calls them) about the disabled life”.

Deeb has a powerful message for those who attend his workshops: “You can use your disability to be talented … Don’t think ‘If I get my disability, I cannot do something’. Don’t look at me like I’m different, no I’m the same as you, I’m using my mind, like you, I’m using my body, like you.”

FRANCE 24 had the opportunity to watch Deeb coach a PBF practice session, during which he provided individualised feedback and encouragement to each player during the five-player matches, demonstrating a supportive and effective coaching style.

Representing the people of Gaza and Palestine

The Paralympic Games officially kicked off on Wednesday and Deeb is very aware that he is not only competing on a personal level but is seen as a representative for his country and people. “I’m competing for the more than 40,000 killed and more than 90,000 injured in Gaza,” said Deeb. “I get at least 15-20 messages daily from my friends in Gaza saying, ‘try to keep going’, ‘I support you’, ‘you are our voice for the world’, ‘you are our hero’, despite their very hard situation in this genocide, they are still sending me messages encouraging me to keep going.” 

In July, the head of the International Olympic Committee and French President Emmanuel Macron rejected the POC’s demand that Israel be barred from the Games over the Gaza war. Still angry over this ruling, Deeb wonders what message Israeli athletes want to convey through their participation. “What is your message to the world? What do you want to show and tell to the world? Do you want to show the genocide that has happened in Gaza?” 

Even before the war, there were more than 120,000 people with disabilities living in Gaza, according to Deeb, with 45 clubs dedicated to a wide range of sports set up under the Palestinian Paralympic Committee. “This latest genocide” has produced an additional 10,000 people with disabilities, said Deeb, necessitating even more facilities and encouragement that people with disabilities pursue sports. “The Israeli occupation in Gaza causes mass disability and death,” sports journalist Leyla Hamed told US monthly magazine The Nation. “According to Save The Children, more than 10 children per day have lost one or both of their legs since the conflict erupted. In the middle of all these atrocities, people in Gaza will see Deeb insist on making his dream come true, on representing Palestine and the Palestinian cause. It’s a message to the children whose dreams have been shattered by bombs and rockets.”

Throughout his interview with France 24, Deeb was regularly checking his phone. At one point, Deeb – feeling like he owed an explanation – shared the circumstances surrounding his brother’s death. “On December 6, after I had played a match under the French Basketball Federation and taken a shower, I looked at my phone and saw that I had four missed Whatsapp and international calls from my brother,” said Deeb, adding that there is poor internet connectivity in Gaza. “On the evening of December 7, I found out that my brother had died..and that is why I always keep my phone near me, because I never know when a conversation with someone will be my last one.” Deeb shared the message he hopes to convey through his presence at the Games. “My message as a sportsman, as an athlete, to the world is that the people of Gaza are human. We Palestinians have hopes, we have dreams, we just want to have the same human rights and have the world treat us the same as other countries.” 

Deeb will take part in one of the shot put final events of the Paris Paralympics on August 30.