ISLAMABAD: For Al-Hassan Mohammad Naser, football was more than a sport. It was a passion, a way of life and a defining part of who he was before the war in Gaza changed everything.

Now, thousands of kilometers from his home in Beit Hanoun, the 20-year-old Palestinian is studying artificial intelligence (AI) in Pakistan after losing his leg in a shrapnel injury.

Yet he has no intention of allowing the loss to define his future.

Instead, Naser wants to walk again, build a career in technology and, one day, establish a football team for amputees either in Pakistan or in Gaza.

“Even though I am an amputee, I still love this sport, love football, and love to play it,” he told Independent Urdu.

“Even though I may have lost my favorite sport, I hope to form a football team for amputees, whether here in Pakistan or, if Allah grants us life and we stay alive, in Palestine, in Gaza.”

For Naser, that dream has emerged from an experience that could easily have extinguished his ambitions.

When the war began, Naser and his family were displaced from Beit Hanoun in northeastern Gaza to the central part of the Strip. Eventually, they sought refuge in a school crowded with other displaced families.

There were about 22 members of his extended family in one of the classrooms, when a strike took place about a kilometer away and a shrapnel pierced the classroom window before striking Naser.

“I was sitting among my family; my mother was beside me, my father was beside me, and my brothers were beside me,” he recalled.

“Suddenly, without prior warning, I felt like the world was spinning around me.”

For a moment, Naser said, he believed his life was ending. He was eventually given about 22 units of blood and survived.

“Alhamdulilah, God gave us life anew... and here we are,” he said.

The injury, however, resulted in the amputation of his leg from the hip joint, one of the most complex forms of amputation.

Naser was eventually evacuated from Gaza to Egypt for treatment.

Separated from his family, he later secured an academic scholarship and traveled to Pakistan, where he is now studying artificial intelligence at Riphah International University.

His family remains in Gaza.

They have been displaced repeatedly and are currently living in a tent in Deir Al-Balah, according to Naser.

The distance weighs heavily on him.

“Gaza was my country, my home,” he said. “I miss my family a lot.”

For Naser, losing a limb has transformed even the simplest aspects of everyday life. Tasks that once required little thought can now become difficult, from carrying objects to preparing food.

But his response has been one of acceptance rather than surrender.

“I accepted it, and this contentment gave me the confidence that allowed me to continue my life,” he said.

His outlook has also changed the way he thinks about disability.

“For me, a disability is the disability of the mind, not the body,” Naser said, insisting that physical limitations should not prevent a person from pursuing goals.

“Even if both my legs were gone, my life wouldn’t stop. I have goals and ambitions. I must achieve these goals and ambitions.”

Naser speaks warmly of Pakistan and the support he has received since arriving.

He lives in a student hostel, where he says his roommates have helped him with everyday tasks.

“The guys don’t fall short at all; they help me with everything,” he said. “They are great guys, reliable and true brothers.”

He also hopes Pakistan can play a greater role in helping him rebuild his life.

Among his wishes are a suitable prosthetic limb, residency and eventually a stable future in the country.

“If Pakistan could provide me with a prosthetic limb, that would be very wonderful,” he said.

“I hope to walk again like anyone else.”