Overview
- More than 50,000 attended at San Mamés as the Basque side won 3–0, with both teams linking arms and stadium boards displaying the message “Dignity, freedom, peace.”
- The Palestinian federation says two years of war destroyed 289 sports facilities and killed about 1,100 athletes, staff and officials.
- The squad is largely drawn from the diaspora, with players based in Qatar, Chile, Iceland and the United States, and many have never been to Gaza.
- Coaches and staff from the West Bank needed roughly 35 hours via Jordan to reach Bilbao, while others faced visa hurdles and delayed flights.
- Coach Ehab Abou Jazar said his home was destroyed and he lost nearly 200 relatives, calling the tour a mission to give Palestinians a voice, with a match against Catalonia in Barcelona next.