I am beginning to think Gaza has developed the busiest sporting calendar in the Middle East, at least judging by the photographs appearing on my Instagram feed.
We’ve had skateboarding among the ruins, taekwondo against the rubble and now, courtesy of Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency, boxing.
The latest photographs show Palestinian girls training inside a tent in Gaza City. There are boxing gloves, training pads, a coach and several young athletes who appear to take their sport seriously.
Anadolu reports that the Gaza Boxing Club was destroyed in Israeli attacks and that girls and women aged between seven and 35 are continuing to train despite the circumstances.
Fair enough. Sport can provide an important escape from difficult surroundings, and I have no reason to question the girls’ enthusiasm.
What interests me is the photographic presentation.
The sequence begins with a young girl apparently warming up beneath the canvas roof. We then move through the familiar collection of action pictures: punches being thrown, gloves meeting pads, determined expressions and the occasional coach offering encouragement.
Then comes the photograph that completes the story.
Two young women, boxing gloves on, standing in front of a destroyed building.
There it is. Sport, young people and rubble, all in one frame.
Having photographed a fair amount of sport myself, I can appreciate a photographer finding a strong background. But I’m increasingly fascinated by how often Gaza’s sporting activities arrive on international picture desks accompanied by precisely the same visual ingredients.
And this particular story has been doing the rounds for some time.
Reuters photographed Gaza’s women’s boxing club in January 2023, before the war. It returned to the subject in July 2024, reporting on girls training after the destruction of their facilities. Associated Press photographers documented the same general subject in May this year, with their photographs also appearing in The Independent.
Now Anadolu has produced another installment.
None of this means the boxing club isn’t real or that the girls aren’t genuinely training. The photographs show what they show.
But the repetition is becoming rather difficult to miss.
The sporting discipline changes. The age of the participants changes. Occasionally the equipment changes.
Somehow, the rubble always seems to make the team photograph.
At this rate, I’m wondering whether Gaza’s next sporting sensation will be synchronized swimming.
Although finding the right background might present a challenge.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
