PALESTINE STRONGMAN EVENT HELD IN GAZA

A Palestinian competitor pulls a truck during the Palestine Strongman Championship in Gaza City, Friday. (JEHAD ALSHRAFI / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — No day in Gaza is normal, but Friday stood out for its shouts of delight as athletes pulled trucks, flipped massive tires and heaved weights in a strength competition that drew cheering crowds.

Children and women perched on the rubble of war-destroyed buildings and watched the Palestine Strongman Championship.

There was a frenzy as one man lurched along pulling a truck with a rope.

Participating was a "great, indescribable feeling. After three years of destruction, strikes, hunger and death, we are back in this fantastic atmosphere," said one bulky participant, Riyad Fattouh.

The organizer, Waleed Owda, said the event had been scheduled for 2021 but was postponed, and then delayed again in 2023 when war erupted after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

"All sports activities were stopped and all sport clubs and venues were destroyed in Gaza," Owda said. "Today, with the help of sponsors, we were able to hold the championship and it is successful, as you can see."

Despite the ruined setting in the Palestinian territory that remains nearly cut off from the world under a fragile ceasefire, "the youths proved to the world that Gaza is home to champions," Owda said.