Mo Salah Posts Serious Christmas Message Referencing "Brutal War" In Middle East

Liverpool and Egypt soccer star Mo Salah posted a very serious Christmas message via social media this year.

In recent years, Salah has celebrated Christmas with his Instagram followers by sharing a photo of himself and his family wearing matching pajamas in front of a colorful tree.

But this year, Salah instead posted a black-and-white image of a tree alongside a plea for the world not to "forget" those suffering in the Middle East.

He wrote: "Christmas is a time when families get together and celebrate.

"With the brutal war going on in the Middle East, especially the death and destruction in Gaza, this year we get to Christmas with very heavy hearts and we share the pain of those families who are grieving the loss of their loved ones.

"Please do not forget them and do not get used to their suffering. Merry Christmas."

Salah's Christmas message was posted just hours after BBC News reported a statement from Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry claiming that an Israeli air strike had killed at least 70 people in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the centre of the strip.

Last week, figures published by the Associated Press claimed that 20,057 Palestinians had been killed in Gaza since October 7 - when multiple terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas caused the deaths of around 1,200 people, as reported by The Times of Israel.

The AP's recent report also said that 1.9 million Palestinians had been displaced in Gaza, out of a population of 2.3 million.

Mo Salah pictured praying after scoring for Liverpool in a 4-0 win over LASK in November

IMAGO/Propaganda Photo/David Rawcliffe