RAMAT GAN, Israel (AP) 鈥� When Ben Binyamin was left for dead, his right leg blown off during the Hamas attack on the music festival, the Israeli professional soccer player thought he would never again play the game he loved.
鈥淲hen I woke up,鈥� the 29-year-old said, 鈥淚 felt I was going to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair.鈥�
Then Binyamin learned about a chance to be 鈥渘ormal鈥� again: Israel's national amputee soccer team.
The team, which includes two Israeli soldiers who lost has offered all three a chance to heal from life-altering wounds suffered during the Oct. 7 attacks and Israel鈥檚 ensuing war in Gaza. It heads to France in June for the European Amputee Football Championships. Some 16 teams, mostly from Europe, will compete.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the best thing in my life,鈥� said 1st Sgt. Omer Glikstal of the team's twice-weekly practices at a stadium in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan. The 20-year-old soldier from Haifa regularly played soccer until his life was turned upside-down when a rocket-propelled grenade shattered his left foot during a battle in Gaza in November.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very different game than I used to play, but in the end, it鈥檚 the same,鈥� he said.
Dozens of Israelis lost limbs that killed some and the war that followed. Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, home to a major rehabilitation center, says it alone has treated about 60 amputees.
Israel鈥檚 Defense Ministry says 1,573 soldiers have been wounded since Israel began its in late October, in which troops have engaged in close combat with Hamas militants. The military did not have specific statistics on amputees but said some 320 soldiers were critically wounded.
The Israeli athletes and others who lost limbs have benefited from a world-class medical system that has decades of experience treating young people injured in wars and conflict.
In Gaza, unknown numbers of Palestinians have also lost limbs in a war that has claimed nearly 34,000 lives, according to Gaza health officials. Gaza鈥檚 health system has been overwhelmed by the war, and doctors and patients say they often need to choose between . Before the war, Gaza also had a fledgling team of wounded in previous conflicts with Israel.
Shaked Bitton, an Israeli army division commander, lost his right leg when he was shot by a Hamas sniper with a .50-caliber round 鈥� the type that can blast through concrete 鈥� near the Jabaliya refugee camp in late October. 鈥淚 heard two shots. I fell down. I looked back,鈥� the 21-year-old soldier said, 鈥渁nd I saw my leg.鈥�
Bitton thought his life was over 鈥� he had never even met an amputee before 鈥� until he was visited in the hospital by others who had lost limbs and successfully resumed their lives.
Among them was Zach Shichrur, founder of Israel's national amputee soccer team. Severely injured when a bus ran over his foot at age 8, he knew what these men were going through, and he offered them hope.
鈥淭here is nothing greater than to go out and compete at the international level when you have the Israeli flag on your chest. Most of us, if not all, could not have even imagined something like this,鈥� said Shichrur, 36, an attorney and the team's captain.
Since its founding five years ago, the Israeli team has met with growing success, placing third in the Nations League in Belgium in October. That qualified it to compete in the European championship in June.
Amputee soccer teams have six fielder players who are missing lower limbs; they play on crutches and without prosthetics. Each team has a goalkeeper with a missing upper extremity. The pitch is smaller than standard.
At team practices, the Israeli players are 鈥� whether from an accident, a war injury or a birth defect.
鈥淲e all have something in common. We鈥檝e been through a lot of hard and difficult times. It unites us,鈥� said Aviran Ohana, a cybersecurity expert whose right leg is shorter than his left due to a birth defect, and who has played with the team for two years.
On a recent April evening, the team started its warm-up with sprints around the pitch, the men speeding forward propelled by one leg, steadied by their crutches.
A game against able-bodied teenagers followed. Benyamin, dripping with sweat, kicked the ball with his left leg as the coach shouted from the sidelines: 鈥淔orward! Forward!鈥� Every goal was celebrated.
Sir Ludwig Guttmann, a Jewish neurologist who fled Nazi Germany in 1939 and settled in Britain, is credited with pioneering competitive sports as a form of rehabilitation. Guttmann, who organized the first competition for wheelchair athletes on the opening day of the 1948 London Olympic Games, is considered the , and his legacy has enhanced the lives of thousands of handicapped athletes.
In Israel today, the amputee soccer team offers the players the excitement of competition 鈥� and the healing powers of sport, said Michal Nechama, the team鈥檚 physical therapist.
鈥淭hey need it for their soul,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t gives them joy, pride. That extra thing that you can鈥檛 give in a hospital.鈥�
Pamela Sampson, The Associated Press
