Tunisian tennis player Ons Jabeur, twice finalist at Wimbledon in 2022 and 2023, announced on Wednesday that she would donate part of her winnings from the WTA Masters in Cancun (Mexico) “to help the Palestinians”, in the midst of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Victorious over the Czech Marketa Vondrousova during the group stage of the tournament which brings together the eight best players in the world at the end of the season, Jabeur was very emotional during the post-match interview held on the court.
“We’re here for tennis, but it’s so frustrating”
“It’s very hard to see children, babies die every day. It breaks my heart. So I decided to donate part of my prize money to help the Palestinians,” she said. “I can’t be happy with this victory with what’s happening. I’m sorry, we’re here for tennis, but it’s so frustrating… It’s not a political message, just humanity, I want peace in the world, that’s all,” added the 29-year-old player, star in Tunisia and first player in the Arab world at this level in tennis.
On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, carrying out a bloody attack against civilians on a scale and violence not seen since the creation of Israel in 1948. In retaliation , Israel declared a war to “annihilate” Hamas, relentlessly shelling the Gaza Strip.
According to Israeli authorities, at least 1,400 people have been killed in Israel since the start of the war, the majority civilians and most of them on the day of the Hamas attack. In the Gaza Strip, nearly 8,800 people, including 3,648 children, have been killed since October 7 in Israeli bombardments, according to Hamas.