Israel is committing a genocide in the Gaza strip and is guilty of war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank. The beautiful Sunbirds para cycling Team are a wonderful focal point of defiance and joy in the face of planned starvation, carpet bombing, siege and an illegal occupation.

And that is why I'm taking part in the Big Ride for Palestine 2025 - to support the Gaza Sunbirds Paracycling team. The ride is 30 miles. I do a bit of cycling so to make this harder and to highlight the ongoing atrocities being committed by the IDF, aided and abetted by the US, UK and large parts of Europe, I'll be carrying 0.5g for every Palestinian murdered by the IDF. The current, highly conservative death toll stands at 60,000. So by the time I do the ride, I'll be carrying over 30kg.

This July and August, the Big Ride for Palestine 2025 is riding in cities across UK to support the Gaza Sunbirds Paracycling team.

The Gaza Sunbirds are a team of para-athletes based in the Gaza Strip. The team was founded by Alaa al-Dali, an Olympic hopeful cyclist, after he was hit in the leg whilst watching the Great March of Return. Alaa's leg was amputated from below the knee, but he did not give up his dream, and channeled his energies into establishing an amputee cycling team within Gaza — called the Gaza Sunbirds, with the hope that they would defy the odds to compete in Paris 2024.

Due to the current situation in Gaza, the Sunbirds have halted their training program and where they can, are working to distribute food parcels and aid to their communities in Gaza, whilst harbouring the dream of representing Palestine on the global stage.

In April 2024, a small group of Sunbirds were able to get permission to leave Gaza for Egypt. Though he didn't make it to the 2024 Paris paralympics, Alaa qualified for a place in the 2024 Cycling World Championships in Zurich, in September 2024, where he became the first cylist to represent Palestine on the world stage!

Alaa is now training in Belgium with his teammate Mohammed Asfour, and has once again qualified for the World Championships in September 2025, this time in Belgium. As we witness the ongoing genocide in Gaza, this representation is more important than ever.

To learn more about what the Sunbirds are doing to distribute aid in Gaza, and to follow them on their journey to represent Palestine on a global stage, follow them on Instagram: @gazasunbirds

To find out more about the Sunbirds, visit this page:

https://www.amostrust.org/palestine-justice/gaza/gaza-sunbirds/

Most of the Sunbirds team remain in Gaza where they are distributing aid to their communities.