Twenty-four-year-old Palestinian boxer from Gaza Shams Al-Tayeb is about to make history as the first Palestinian from Gaza to compete in the World Boxing Championship (WBC).
In an interview with Anjuman Rahman for the Middle East Monitor (MEMO), the young boxer spoke at length about his career, life in Gaza, and his fight for the freedom of his people.
Based in Cyprus at present, Al-Tayeb said that his fight is not limited to the ring but rather extends to the fight of his people for freedom.
“My family is still there in Gaza. My brother, my sister, and her children are trapped. And my father is also there. He refuses to leave,” the young boxer told MEMO stressing that his heart is in Gaza with which he waved through the years unbreakable ties despite the physical distance.
Al-Tayeb confessed that the news coming out of Gaza haunts him considering the “mental strain” of knowing that his people are under bombardment and have no place to go.
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“I’m in both sides at the same time. While I’m here trying to compete, my mind and energy is constantly working and thinking of ways to help my people in Gaza any way I can,” he said.
Al-Tayeb’s career in boxing kicked off as a necessity he told MEMO.
The young man was a businessman “managing companies and running agencies,” but the dire situation in the besieged Gaza Strip forced him to turn his boxing passion into a profession to make ends meet.
“I’ve always been a businessman. I had my own agency and my own companies, but I got forced to use my hobby to make a profit,” he told MEMO.
Gaza is My Identity
Growing up in the south of Gaza namely in Tal-Al Hawa neighborhood, the young man’s life was a fusion of a normal childhood and the harsh consequences of a ruthless siege on the Strip.
“Tal-Al Hawa neighborhood was a peaceful place,” he said while adding that “It’s a small neighborhood near the sea but, now, you can see nothing of it. It’s literally in rubble.”
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He told MEMO that Gaza is the identity he carries everywhere he goes. His memories both beautiful and painful are the drive behind any change he made or wants to make.
“I miss everything in Gaza,” he adds. “I’ve been seeing better seas than Gaza’s sea, but I’ve never felt as comfortable as I feel there,” he told MEMO.
Loss at an Early Age
Like most people in Gaza who have lost family members during the repeated Israeli wars on Gaza, Al-Tayeb lost his older brother at 9 years old in a “fatal Israeli attack”, which left him with life scars.
“I had a brother who got killed by the Israeli forces 15 years ago and I’m the one who collected his body from the streets,” he said.
The young boxer spoke of the emotional impact the genocide in Gaza had on him.
“A lot of messages come to me daily from people I know as well as people I don’t know, about their pain and loss, which is really devastating,” Al-Tayeb said.
“I wake up under depression; I sleep in depression, hoping that it can all stop one day,” he added.
The young boxer was selected to compete WBC World Boxing Championships in Turkiye last year before it was canceled due to the earthquake that took place in Turkiye and Syria.
Al-Tayeb believes that his journey in life is not limited to boxing but extends to his fight for a future in which the Palestinian people “can live without fear, where children can grow up without the constant threat of violence and where Gaza is free from oppression.”
“All we want is a free Palestine, just a free Palestine, where Palestinians can live freely. It’s only a matter of time. We have to be patient,” he concluded.
Gaza has a long-standing tradition of boxing, with the sport being deeply woven into the community’s cultural fabric, symbolizing resilience and strength across generations.
Before the war, despite the hardships, even women in Gaza pursued boxing, breaking barriers and showcasing the sport’s widespread appeal across the community.
(MEMO, PC)
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