ALEXANDRIA, Egypt: Sock ball was long considered a poor man’s game for Egyptian football lovers, but more recently it’s become a show of celebration during Islam’s holy month of Ramadan that takes over the streets.
Originally played with some old socks or scraps crammed inside of each other to form a ball, sock ball is likely to have been the first football played by both Egypt’s massive soccer stars and the fans who root for them.
“The sock ball in Alexandria is so special, it has its own enjoyment, and honestly, not just anyone can play sock ball,” said Ahmed Youssef, a sock player in the coastal city of Alexandria.
A game of skill and strategy, as loyal fan Ibrahim Abu Al Wafa described it, it requires a great deal of talent from players who learn to control a small ball in tight spaces on narrow streets to score on their rivals.
“It (sock ball) has its enjoyment and a wide popularity across Alexandria,” he said of the game he has been in love with since the 1960s.
No expensive ball needed, no need for a club to play in. Everyone in the neighborhood could join in for a game of football in the street.
“These tournaments have always been popular in Alexandria,” said Mohamed Tarik Amin, 33, a driver who coordinates one of the sock ball tournaments in the city.
Over the years, the game has developed. Still called sock ball, players now kick around balls layered with duct tape and thread fashioned into the shape of a small basketball, Amin explained.
Essam Bakkar, 38, works in a clothes factory and has made balls from leather and old pieces of cloth since he was a teenager. Now he uses mass-produced balls wrapped in duct tape and sewing thread for a better grip on asphalted streets.
Nets are set up in side streets, and boys and men of all ages come together to either play or sit and watch from the pavements as players show off their game.
“Since a very long time ago, sock ball has been important here,” Amin said.
‘Sock ball,’ once a poor man’s game in Egypt, now a football celebration
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‘Sock ball,’ once a poor man’s game in Egypt, now a football celebration
- “The sock ball in Alexandria is so special, it has its own enjoyment,” said Ahmed Youssef, a sock player in Alexandria
- A game of skill and strategy, as loyal fan Ibrahim Abu Al Wafa described it
Israel forces close UN schools in annexed east Jerusalem
An AFP photographer at the scene reported that a closure notice in Hebrew was left at the entrance of at least one of the schools, and UNRWA said at least one of its staff members was detained.
“From May 8, 2025, it will be prohibited to operate educational institutions, or employ teachers, teaching staff or any other staff, and it will be forbidden to accommodate students or allow the entry of students into this institution,” the closure order read.
UNRWA’s director in the West Bank, Roland Friedrich, told AFP that “heavily armed” forces surrounded three UNRWA schools in east Jerusalem’s Shuafat camp at 9:00 am on Thursday.
Friedrich added that 550 pupils aged six to 15 were present when the closure was enforced, calling the event “a traumatising experience for young children who are at immediate risk of losing their access to education.”
Friedrich said that police were being deployed at three separate schools in other parts of east Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the move in a statement to AFP, calling it “violation of children’s right to education.”
Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its “indivisible” capital, though the United Nations considers its annexation of the city’s eastern sector illegal.
The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future independent state.
Gaza rescuers say no fuel left for 75 percent of their vehicles
- First responders were also facing a severe shortage of electric generators and oxygen devices
GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Thursday that a lack of fuel had forced three-quarters of its emergency vehicles to stop operating, more than two months into an Israeli aid blockade.
“Seventy-five percent of our vehicles have stopped operating due to a lack of diesel fuel,” the agency’s spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP, adding that its first responders were also facing a “severe shortage of electric generators and oxygen devices.”
Israeli PM Netanyahu says 21 hostages alive, doubts over three others
- The fate of the hostages is a visceral issue for most Israelis and one that has caused increasing disquiet and division in Israeli society as the war has dragged on
JERUSALEM: Three Israeli hostages in Gaza previously thought to be living may be dead, leaving 21 definitely believed to be alive, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, confirming comments made by US President Donald Trump.
Speaking at an event at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said 24 hostages were alive a week ago but the figure was now 21. He did not cite a source or provide further details.
Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for hostage issues, had said in a post on X that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was holding 59 hostages of whom 24 were alive and 35 dead — figures unchanged since before Trump spoke.
Netanyahu’s comments appeared to confirm the figure cited by Trump.
“We know for certain that 21 are alive — that’s not in dispute. There are three others where, unfortunately, it’s uncertain whether they’re alive,” Netanyahu said in filmed remarks posted on social media.
A spokesperson for a group representing hostage families said: “The headquarters again calls on the prime minister to stop the war until the return of the last abductee. This is the most urgent and important national task.”
The fate of the hostages is a visceral issue for most Israelis and one that has caused increasing disquiet and division in Israeli society as the war has dragged on. A total of 251 people were taken hostage during the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, according to Israeli tallies.
Most of the hostages returned alive to Israel so far were released as part of deals with Hamas during two temporary ceasefires in late 2023 and early 2025.
Since the abductions, Israel has responded with an air and ground assault on Gaza that has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health authorities there, and reduced much of the enclave to ruins.
The government says its two war aims are to destroy Hamas and release the hostages. This week it has announced an expansion of its offensive on Gaza, causing hostage families to fear this will further endanger their loved ones.
World Central Kitchen halts work in Gaza as supplies run out
- WCK said it would continue to support Palestinian families by distributing critically needed potable water where possible
- Israel has faced growing international pressure to lift an aid blockade
CAIRO: The US-based World Central Kitchen charity has halted work in the Gaza Strip, saying on Wednesday it had run out of supplies and been prevented by Israel from bringing in aid.
“After serving more than 130 million total meals and 26 million loaves of bread over the past 18 months, World Central Kitchen no longer has the supplies to cook meals or bake bread in Gaza,” it said in a post on X.
The charity said it would continue to support Palestinian families by distributing critically needed potable water where possible, but vital food distribution cannot resume until Israel allows aid back into the enclave.
“WCK trucks loaded with food and cooking fuel have been ready at the Gaza border since early March. Additional food and equipment are ready to be shipped to the border from Jordan and Egypt,” said World Central Kitchen, which was founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres.
Israel has faced growing international pressure to lift an aid blockade that it imposed in March after the collapse of a US-backed ceasefire that had halted fighting for two months.
Israel has accused agencies, including the United Nations, of allowing large quantities of aid to fall into the hands of Hamas militants, who it accuses of seizing supplies intended for civilians and using them for their own forces. Hamas denies the allegation and accuses Israel of using starvation as a weapon against the population.
Growing lootings of community kitchens, stores of local merchants, and UN headquarters have prompted Hamas security forces to crack down on local gangs. Hamas executed at least six gang members last week, according to sources close to the group.
UN humanitarian agency OCHA has said more than 2 million people — most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million — face severe food shortages.
F/A-18 fighter jet goes overboard from US carrier in the Red Sea
- The incident Tuesday marks the latest mishap to mar the deployment of the Truman
DUBAI: An F/A-18 fighter jet landing on the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea went overboard, forcing its two pilots to eject, a defense official said on Wednesday.
The incident Tuesday marks the latest mishap to mar the deployment of the Truman, which has been essential in the airstrike campaign by the US against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The F/A-18 Super Hornet landed on the Truman after a flight, but “the arrestment failed,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity about the incident now under investigation.
“Arrestment” refers to the hook system used by aircraft landing on carriers, which catches steel wire ropes on the flight deck. It remains unclear what part of the system failed.
The two pilots on board were later rescued by a helicopter and suffered minor injuries in the incident, the official added. No one on the flight deck was hurt.
Tuesday’s incident was the latest to see the Navy lose an F/A-18, which cost about $60 million. In April, another F/A-18 fighter jet slipped off the hangar deck of the Truman and fell into the Red Sea. The crew members who were in the pilot seat of the Super Hornet and on the small towing tractor both jumped away.
In December, the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg mistakenly shot down an F/A-18 after ships earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels. Both aviators in that incident also survived.
And in February, the Truman collided with a merchant vessel near Port Said, Egypt.
The Truman, based out of Norfolk, Virginia, has seen its deployment extended multiple times amid the Houthi airstrike campaign. It had been joined recently by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier operating out of the Arabian Sea.
