Guardiola backs Palestine: those killed in Gaza are not numbers

Spanish coach Pep Guardiola recorded a message for UNRWA calling Gaza’s dead “murdered people, not numbers,” noting more than 74,000 victims and urging people not to stay silent.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola recorded a video message in support of Palestine for the Spanish office of UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. The central idea of the message was that the dead in Gaza must not be turned into abstract statistics.

“They are not dead, they are murdered people. These are not numbers,” Guardiola said, adding that behind every death lie a name, a face, a family, dreams and memories. A society that accepts language that hides pain, he said, begins to lose its humanity.

“A very dark period”

Guardiola said humanity is going through “a very dark period of our history” and that the Israeli government has killed more than 74,000 people in Gaza. He also pointed to the obstruction of humanitarian aid and home demolitions in the West Bank.

“Their lives are as valuable as ours. Their pain is not foreign to us,” Guardiola said, adding that no people should have to prove for generations that they can endure suffering, and that children should not learn to survive before they learn to live.

Guardiola on the touchline during a match (file photo)

A call not to stay silent

“Silence today is a way of taking sides,” he stressed, urging support for UNRWA, which has helped Palestinian refugees for more than 75 years. “Palestine matters, and Palestine needs justice and peace. Keep talking about Palestine,” Guardiola concluded.

It is not the first time the Spanish coach has spoken about Gaza: in 2025 he said what was happening there “hurts my whole body.”

Have a story, event or announcement of your own?Send us your news on WhatsApp

Spotted an error in this story?Report it on WhatsApp

Share on all social platforms