For Many Palestinians, the Olympics Are Easy to Root for but Hard to Actually Watch

Displaced three times by the war in Gaza, Mariam Moeen Awwad recently returned to her family’s home in Jabaliya, where amid the damage and destruction she hoped to cling to a routine for the next two weeks.

Without a television, Ms. Awwad, 23, said she would rely on the small screen of her father’s phone to transmit accounts of the Palestinians competing in the Paris Olympics. She said she wanted to feel connected to them, and to the Games, as much as possible.

But even as she expressed hope that the Palestinian team would do well, she acknowledged it would be hard. “My feelings are numb toward everything because of what we are witnessing and experiencing,” she said.

These wartime Olympics carry a particular resonance for Palestinians, many of whom are enduring their 10th month of death and devastation in Gaza. The eight Palestinian athletes represent not only a homeland but a cause, a means of amplifying their voice and concerns to the world.

For many Gazans, preoccupied with the loss of loved ones, their homes and their livelihoods, the grim state of life eclipses any excitement over the Games. Even if they were interested now in staying current on sports and culture news, a scarcity of electricity has made it nearly impossible to keep up with the outside world.

Yasser Shaaban Abdullah Mhana, a legal adviser at the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Communications, explained that many people in northern Gaza did not have access to television or other media, further limiting their ability to stay informed.