Gaza amputees to Adidas: You ignored the victims and celebrated the killer

Palestinian athletes accuse sportswear company of ignoring Gaza’s amputees and honoring a former soldier, as thousands struggle to access prosthetic limbs and rehabilitation

Two Palestinian amputee athletes from the Gaza Strip condemned the global sports equipment company Adidas for using an Israeli soldier as an advertising figure for its products, describing the move as “a blatant bias toward the Israeli killers and a whitewashing of the crimes of genocide.” The two athletes, speaking to Anadolu, said they had decided on a “comprehensive boycott and abandonment of the company’s products” and called on the Arab and Muslim sporting community and free people around the world to support them and stop buying its products. Former Israeli soldier Shalev Biton, who participated in the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip in 2021, appeared in a local campaign promoting the Single Shoe service launched by Adidas. The service allows amputees, or those who need only one shoe, to purchase it for 50% of the price of a full pair. The campaign sparked widespread international, Arab and Palestinian discontent, amid the suffering of thousands of amputees in the Gaza Strip due to a shortage of prosthetic limbs and the raw materials needed to manufacture them.   ‘Whitewashing the image of the killers’ Ahmed Abu Nar, an amputee football player in Gaza, said that Adidas, a company of its size, using an Israeli sniper who participated in the war on the Strip was “a provocative act and a deliberate attempt to whitewash the image of those committing war crimes against civilians.” Abu Nar, who lost his left leg as a result of direct fire from an Israeli sniper, expressed his astonishment at “using an Israeli soldier to advertise and market this shoe, at a time when it could have used many other people.” He added: “The company has expertise and specialized teams to study every step, and what happened was not a mere coincidence, but a calculated decision to ignore the victims and celebrate the killer.” Abu Nar criticized the company’s handling of the controversy and its decision to limit the apology and removal of the advertisement to pages directed only at the Middle East, noting that “the company’s global page did not address the matter.” Under pressure and amid calls to boycott it, the German sportswear company Adidas apologized Monday through its Arabic-language Instagram account for launching an advertising campaign featuring an Israeli soldier. The Adidas Arabia account has relatively limited reach, with only 1.4 million followers, a figure that is dwarfed by the more than 29.6 million followers of its global account. Abu Nar confirmed that he had made a firm decision to boycott Adidas and dispose of all its sports equipment, saying: “This decision is irreversible for us as athletes in Gaza.” He added: “The company applies double standards, between us being victims and being exposed to death, bombing and destruction at every moment, while on the other hand they said the war had stopped, and to this day it has not stopped. On our way to the field, we are at any moment afraid that a bombing may occur.” Since Oct. 8, 2023, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza, leaving more than 73,000 Palestinians dead, more than 174,000 wounded, and destruction affecting 90% of the infrastructure.   Bias toward the occupation For his part, Hassan Abu Karim, 43, a board member of the Palestine Amputee Football Association, denounced what he described as “racial discrimination and double standards” practiced by global companies in their handling of the Palestinian issue. Abu Karim, who lost his foot to an Israeli shell in 2006 during an incursion into the Maghazi area, said: “At a time when our association has struggled since its establishment in 2018 to provide the most basic necessities, including shoes and crutches for amputee athletes, we find the global company opening its doors and providing its capabilities and sponsorship to a soldier who participated in massacres against our people.” “This greatly affects the sporting situation in Palestine, particularly people with amputations who had been waiting for international institutions and companies to sponsor them or stand by their side,” he added. Abu Karim, a former player for Maghazi Services Club who participated in international sporting initiatives for amputees, explained that it would be more appropriate for global companies to show solidarity with victims living under siege and bombardment and to safeguard the rights of people with disabilities. He continued: “As an athlete, when I saw this advertisement, it became clear to me that they had ignored the suffering of people with disabilities or amputees in Gaza.” He considered the use of the Israeli soldier as an advertising figure to be “abhorrent racial discrimination,” calling on Adidas “not to be racist and not to side with the occupation and killing.” Abu Karim called on Arab and Muslim athletes and sporting institutions around the world to stand alongside Palestinian athletes and confront what he described as “racist policies” through a broad boycott of the company’s products until it “complies with humanitarian values and justice.” Days after the advertisement was published, criticism escalated across social media platforms as accounts supportive of the Palestinian cause republished images of the campaign, pointing out that Biton had lost his leg while participating in the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip in 2021. Israel’s Channel 15 said posts that recirculated the advertisement received millions of views, while a hashtag calling for a boycott of Adidas spread, accompanied by thousands of calls to boycott the company. Users compared the Israeli soldier with the thousands of Palestinians whose limbs had been amputated during the genocide, accusing Adidas of ignoring their suffering.   More than 5,000 amputation cases The figures concerning amputees in the Gaza Strip reveal the extent of the contrast highlighted by Adidas’ critics. According to World Health Organization estimates issued in May 2026, the Strip recorded between 5,161 and 6,710 limb amputations since October 2023. The organization indicated that around 43,000 people in Gaza sustained injuries likely to permanently change their lives, including approximately 10,000 children. It noted that the number of serious limb injuries had reached around 22,000 cases by May, while the total number of injuries at that time had reached approximately 172,000 since Oct. 8, 2023. In a related context, figures reported by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Aug. 14, 2026, confirmed that children account for around 18% of amputation cases in Gaza, while specialized rehabilitation services for children are unavailable in the Strip. The suffering of amputees does not end with the loss of their limbs, as it is followed by a long process of surgical operations, physical therapy, rehabilitation and the search for a suitable prosthetic limb.