Hossam Hassan makes use of his FIFA World Cup information convention to boost consciousness concerning the plight of Palestinians in Gaza.
Revealed On 7 Jul 2026
Egypt coach Hossam Hassan has reiterated his assist for Palestine days after dedicating his crew’s historic knockout win on the World Cup to the Palestinian folks and waving their flag on the largest sporting occasion on the planet.
Hassan broke away from discussing his crew’s upcoming round-of-16 match in opposition to Argentina to present an impassioned monologue concerning the plight of the Palestinian folks at his information convention on Monday.
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“If there’s anybody on the planet who doesn’t really feel for the Palestinian folks, then they aren’t human — whether or not they’re Arab, European, or American,” Hassan mentioned. He spoke for greater than 4 minutes on the topic and was applauded by lots of the assembled media.
Israeli assaults throughout Gaza have continued to kill Palestinians, regardless of an ongoing “ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas. Israel has killed no less than 73,066 folks, together with no less than 20,179 youngsters, in Gaza because the starting of its genocidal conflict on October 7. Not less than 463 of these have been killed on account of hunger, together with 157 youngsters.
Greater than 2million Palestinians in Gaza, largely displaced and residing amid ruins, face uncertainty following the Israeli genocide.
Hassan was requested what prompted him to wave the Palestinian flag after his crew’s penalty-shootout win over Australia on Friday, and he responded by saying it was “merely a human response”.
“All over the place on the planet, together with in Europe or America, if somebody hurts an animal, we see animal rights being defended and the entire world reacts,” Hassan mentioned. “It has change into regular to listen to that two or three thousand folks die in a single day due to a missile.”
The genocide sparked pro-Palestinian protests around the globe, with athletes, together with Spain’s Lamine Yamal, displaying their assist.
Whereas Hassan handled questions on Lionel Messi and his crew’s possibilities in opposition to the holders, he additionally spoke at size about Palestinians.
“No matter faith… I’m a human earlier than being Arab or the rest. My message, by means of soccer, is that this: Please, simply as FIFA’s slogan requires respect amongst us, I hope there might be respect for folks’s proper to dwell,” Hassan mentioned.
With a win over Argentina, Egypt would attain the quarterfinals for the primary time.
“My goals haven’t any limits. My ambitions haven’t any limits. I promise that we are going to do the whole lot to dwell as much as the expectations [of fans],” Hassan mentioned. “We’re no underdogs. We’re huge in each respect. We’re a civilisation that’s 7,000 years previous, much more than 7,000 years.”
Hassan conceded that his facet weren’t favourites for Tuesday’s conflict, however insisted they had been removed from overawed.
“We all know we’re enjoying in opposition to the World Cup holders and one of many biggest gamers ever [Messi], however we don’t worry them.
“[The] duty makes us concentrate on ourselves and on what we are able to produce on the sphere,” he added.
“We’ve got a duty in direction of Egypt and the Arab world and Africa. We symbolize all of them.”
