Officially recognised over 30 years ago by the International Olympic Committee, the Palestine Olympic Committtee is currently present in the French capital through its lone Paralympian, who feels right at ease in his familiar surroundings: hoping to find a better life, Aldeeb was forced to leave his home country a decade ago and settle in France after first migrating to Turkiye and Greece.

His challenge in the Paralympics, which are set to end on Sunday, is not that much winning medals, but rather righteously representing the voice of those 2.3 million people who stayed back in Gaza, as well as those who, like him, were forced out.

"It's too many feelings, too much responsibility, because I'm not speaking about myself, I'm not playing for myself. I'm here for 11 million, for all who say I'm a Palestinian, for all who talk about humanity, and to talk about the freedom of Palestine,"he told Reuters recently. "When we are raising the flag here in Paris, we are (showing we are) still alive, we still we need our human rights, we still need our freedom."

Preparing for the Paralympic Games requires quite the sacrifice and a purposeful mindset for most athletes, yet Aldeeb has had to endure extra hardship because of his circumstance, being a victim of life-threatening attacks by Israeli forces, that most recently claimed the life of his brother, who was killed nine months ago when his home was bombed.

"On December 6, I had a French league game and when I was finished, I found my brother had called me many times... I tried to call back but there was no connection," Aldeeb recalled. The 40-year-old wheelchair basketball player is competing in the shot put at the Paralympics and he only other Palestinian representatives at the Games are his coach and the president of Palestine's Paralympic committee. "The 7th of December at night I received (the news) that 'Okay, your brother was killed in an attack on our building'," said Aldeeb, who said he became paraplegic after being shot in 2001 during the second Intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation.

Palestine’s health ministry has said that over 40,000 people have been killed in the Gaza strip after the Hamas terrorist group carried out a deadly attack on Israeli soil almost year ago, murdering about 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, according to the Israeli government. It has been a bloodbath in Gaza since, even though Israel argues its offensive is aimed against Hamas, not civilians.

"This is so difficult. You can imagine that you are doing your sport to be ready for the Paralympic Games, and at the same time, you are also human. You think about your family, about many things; it's a complicated feeling," Aldeeb explained.

Speaking from outside the Paralympic Village because the Olympic charter states that competitors at the Olympic Games should enjoy freedom of expression but that no "political propaganda" is permitted on Olympic sites, the Paralympian disputed the notion that Hamas terrorists use hospitals as human shields, putting civilians at risk. "There is no difference (for Israel's military) between athletes, disabled or non-disabled, children or women, big or small homes, hospitals, hotels, universities or school," he said.

Aldeeb, who conceded he did not feel at ease next to Israeli athletes in Paris, also spoke recently to CNN Sport's about his status as his country’s lone Paris representative. "There's too much responsibility in this time … to show the people that you are from Palestine. This is the flag of Palestine – we are still alive, we are still here, and to show the people there is also life in Palestine. It's like too much stress, too much responsibility, really," he admitted.