Mondello Park, Ireland
Sunbirds spin the wheels in the race for freedom
Alaa al-Dali says: “They can take away your legs but they can’t take your dreams.”
He is a paracyclist, one of the founders of the Gaza Sunbirds, a team of cycling amputees whose determination to race and promote the Palestinian cause has been an inspiration around the world.
Alaa was Palestine’s first professional cyclist until an Israeli sniper shot him in the right leg which had to be removed.
It is not surprising that Gaza has the world’s highest rate of amputations. The World Health Organization says that 42,000 people have suffered life-changing injuries since 2023. Of these 30,000 now have disabilities, with 6,000 having undergone amputations.
But Alaa was not shot during the genocide. It was earlier, in 2019 while he was protesting at the border with Israel during the Great March of Return, a series of weekly mass demonstrations against the blockade of Gaza.
Tens of thousands joined the weekly protests that demanded the right of Palestinians to return to the land stolen by Israelis over the last 80 years, and to travel freely – in his case, to take part in international cycle racing.
Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) fired on them regularly from outside the perimeter fence – not always to kill, but to maim. Over 18 months at least 214 unarmed protesters were killed by sniper fire but 36,100 were injured – mostly, targeted in the legs.
Within three months of the shooting Alaa was back on his bike, pedalling with his left leg. And in 2020 he teamed up with disabled colleagues and friends to launch the Sunbirds.
Support their 2028 Paralympics bid
- Join the Rides of Return events in London and in other cities.
- Donate to help build the campaign at gazasunbirds.org
- Volunteer your time and skills to keep the Gaza Sunbirds moving and growing gazasunbirds.org/support-us/volunteer
Many of the athletes didn’t even have shoes, Alaa says. “They were wearing sandals and jeans and we were tying their feet onto the pedals with pieces of rope.” The bikes came second-hand from Israel.
While his earlier objective had been the 2024 Paris Olympics, for the new team it became the Paralympics instead. “The Sunbirds have always had an Olympic dream,” he says.
They began training, but everything changed after October 7, 2023. Conditions in Gaza rapidly worsened and access to food, water and the essentials of life virtually ended. The team made a drastic decision. They dropped their competitive ambitions and became a community-delivery network through Gaza’s rubble-strewn streets.
They used their bikes to reach bomb-scarred neighbourhoods bringing food, medicine and other supplies. But as things have deteriorated yet further they had to abandon them and work with other aid organisations, mostly with trucks.
Over the three years they have delivered more than $1.3 million of food aid, says Karim Ali, the London-based international coordinator for the Sunbirds. “We work with aid from other agencies, making up parcels of food – enough for a family for a few days,” he said.
But for their goal — competing in the Paralympics — Karim says the dream is “very much alive”. Now they are aiming for the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles, cycling under the Palestinian flag, and advocating for international sports solidarity.
To help achieve their aims the Sunbirds have expanded internationally. They have two teams of paracyclists, in Egypt and Belgium, made up of refugee Palestinian amputees. Alaa himself, who managed to get out of Gaza in 2024, is now in Belgium – though he had to leave his wife and two children behind.
They are raising international support by staging solidarity bike rides called the Great Ride of Return. Supporters ride together in solidarity with Palestinians. Events run in 95 cities across 35 countries, with a global ride taking place annually.
And Sunbirds have a future. There are more than 4,000 child amputees, according to the International Rescue Committee – young people in Gaza whose lives and bodies have been mutilated by Israeli brutality over the last three years.
For sure as adults they will carry on the great ride of return.
