Palestine forced to field a shorthanded squad against Mauritania

Palestine’s preparations for the upcoming August 11th friendly against Mauritania have been disrupted. Upon attempting to cross into Jordan, all six players with Gaza identity cards were refused exit visas by the Israeli occupation forces. Upon arriving in Amman, the situation was made worse when Wehdat refused to allow their Palestinian triumvirate of Fahed Attal, Abdelatif Bahdari, and Ahmed Keshkesh to travel with the team. In light of these events, Palestine National Team Manager Mousa Bezaz has called Shabab Al-Khaleel duo Husam Ziyadeh and Ali Ayesh into the squad. Giving them a total of 12 players including one goalkeeper.

The eleven players originally called up that will not feature include: Ismail Al-Amour, Suleiman Abeed, Husam Wadi, Abdullah Saidawi, Khaled Mahdi (due to their Gazan identity cards), Rafit Eyad (injured), Mohammed Shbair, Abdelatif Bahdari, Ahmed Keshkesh, Fahed Attal, Roberto Bishara, Mohammed Shatrit, Imad Zatara, and captain Ramzi Saleh (due to their clubs refusing to release them).