IDF reveals 'Starting 11' of Hamas, PIJ terrorists posing as soccer players

Throughout the soccer World Cup, Israel faced intensified accusations that it killed dozens of innocent Palestinian soccer players during the war in Gaza, as part of a long-standing campaign to smear Israel as seeking to “erase” Palestinian culture and sports.

This accompanied the more traditional claims that Israel is specifically targeting “journalists” to suppress news coverage or targeting academic institutions and museums to cover up the history and prevent research into its alleged crimes.

However, the Israeli military revealed this week that many of the ostensibly innocent soccer players were, in fact, active terror operatives of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). This followed similar revelations regarding ostensible journalists or the exploitation of schools and university buildings for terror purposes.

“In recent weeks, false claims have been circulated alleging that the IDF deliberately targeted innocent Palestinian soccer players throughout the war. In light of these claims, the IDF is now revealing the identities of Palestinian soccer players, referees, and coaches who were presented as athletes and innocent civilians, but who in fact served as terrorists,” the Israel Defense Forces stated.

IDF exposes Gaza terrorists posing as professionals in soccer and coaching roles, highlighting a broader tactic to misrepresent them as civilians. The military stresses this deception is part of an ongoing effort to undermine Israel’s security. https://t.co/5u1hYyBURJ pic.twitter.com/GzIwqFo6H4

— Drew Grimaldi (@Grimillionaire) July 22, 2026

The new information was published after an intelligence assessment to ensure that information security was preserved, as the revelation of intelligence can often shine a light on, or harm, the sources.

The IDF presented a list of twelve players and coaches, mimicking a “starting eleven” from soccer, and attaching pictures showing them in sports attire, as well as in terror uniforms. Notably, Hamas and the other Palestinian terror groups only don their uniforms in peacetime, preferring to pose as civilians during the fighting, which constitutes a war crime.

First on the list is a soccer player named Mohammed Mohammed Hassan Barakat who infiltrated Israel during the Oct. 7 massacre as part of PIJ. The second man on the list played soccer during his free time while serving as a company commander in Hamas’ Aerial Array.

Meet some of Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s so-called “soccer players.”

12 Gazans portrayed as innocent players, referees, and coaches were also terrorists serving in the military wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

They were targeted for their involvement in terrorism, not for the… pic.twitter.com/X1UATbVSdN

— Israel in New York (@IsraelinNewYork) July 22, 2026

Other standouts include the deputy commander of Hamas’ Nuseirat Battalion who infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7, several PIJ platoon commanders, and more. Mohammed Sami Mohammed Khattab, a terrorist in PIJ’s Central Camps Brigade, also worked as an International FIFA referee.

“The false campaign portraying the IDF as deliberately targeting members of the soccer community, which was created as part of a broader effort promoted by various actors against the State of Israel, accompanies other false narratives advanced throughout the war,” the IDF emphasized.

“In those campaigns, Palestinian terrorists struck and eliminated by the IDF were presented as journalists, humanitarian aid workers, and other civilian professionals, while their involvement in terrorist activity was deliberately concealed in order to promote false claims that they had been targeted because of their civilian professions.”

The Palestinian Authority has long used issues connected to sports, particularly soccer, to delegitimize Israel. The President of the Palestinian Football Association is Jibril Rajoub, a convicted terrorist and member of Fatah.

Shortly after Oct. 7, Rajoub defended the massacre as part of “the defensive war our people are waging,” before going on to urge FIFA to ban the Israel Football Association (IFA) over the alleged “genocide” in Gaza.

In May, just before the World Cup, Rajoub drew headlines for refusing to shake the hand of the Israel Football Association’s vice-president, Arab-Israeli Basim Sheikh Suliman, during a FIFA event.

Rajoub’s deputy Susan Shalabi later told Reuters that Rajoub said, “I cannot shake the hand of someone the Israelis have brought to whitewash their fascism and genocide. We are suffering.”