THE Gaza Sunbirds demanded yesterday the British government halt all arms sales to Israel following the air strike killing of their para‑cycling teammate, 33-year-old Ahmend al-Dali on Monday.

The team announced his death after Israel’s latest attack on Khan Younis, southern Gaza. They confirmed that he was the first of the squad’s athletes to be killed in the current assault on the strip, leaving behind four children.

Dali joined the Gaza Sunbirds para-cycling team in 2022, having lost his leg in an Israeli attack in 2014. Initially he was pronounced dead, but his family discoved he was alive after being taken to the morgue. A big sports fan, he initially started playing para-football until taking up cycling with the Sunbirds.

The Gaza Sunbirds are a para-cycling team living through Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip. The team of amputee athletes formed in 2020 and continue to represent Palestine on the global sporting stage, including in Belgium, Italy, Kazakhstan and at the Para-Cycling World Championships in Zurich. Over the past 16 months, they have distributed $450,000 worth of aid across the strip.

Mr Dali’s cousin and Gaza Sunbirds co-founder and team captain Alaa al-Dali said: “Ahmed survived the missile that took his leg in 2014, but today a second missile took his life. When we first started this journey, Ahmed was by my side. He was a great person filled with positivity and a love for sport. Today his life ended. It breaks my heart to have to continue our journey without him but we will keep going for all those who we lost during this genocide.”

According to a recent report from Palestinian Youth Movement, Progressive International and Workers for a Free Palestine, Britain continues to send F-35 fighter jet parts directly to Israel, despite the government boasting of a ban on these shipments in September 2024. As the Star recently reported, Foreign Secretary David Lammy has refused to acknowledge the extent of Israel’s crimes, with the Labour government remaining largely silent on the issue.  

Israel’s latest wave of brutal attacks on Monday killed scores of Palestinians, with two separate attacks in southern Gaza killing 10, including Dali.

Gaza Sunbirds co-founder and team manager Karim Ali said of Dali: “Ahmed’s courage on the bike was matched only by his devotion to his children and his community. As a UK-registered organisation, we urge the government to immediately stop arms sales to Israel. New evidence presented suggests that they are continuing to export jet components they announced were banned. Our team is witnessing civilians being killed daily, the supply of weapons from international governments needs to stop. As a team working tirelessly to deliver aid over the last sixteen months, there is nothing more we can do. It is time for real change. We don’t want to lose more people.”

The Gaza Sunbirds have issued a call on international sporting bodies, disability rights organisations, and humanitarian agencies to take urgent action to protect civilians and athletes in Gaza and to defend the right of all people, especially those with disabilities, to live and move safely.