PARIS (AP) — Most of the athletes representing the Palestinian territories at the Paris Olympics were born elsewhere — Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Germany, Chile and the United States — but they are deeply concerned about politics in the home countries of their parents and grandparents.

They are eager to compete, but say their presence at the Games is not just, or even primarily, about sports. With Israel and Hamas locked in a brutal war that has killed tens of thousands in Gaza, these eight athletes — two of whom are from the West Bank — are shouldering heavier burdens.

Yazan Al Bawwab, a 24-year-old swimmer born in Saudi Arabia and living in Dubai, said he doesn’t expect recognition for his achievements in the pool. He uses swimming, he said, as a “tool for Palestine.”

“Unfortunately, no one ever asked me about my race. No one cares,” said al Bawwab, whose parents are from Jerusalem and Lod, a city now in central Israel. “I’ll be honest: France doesn’t recognize Palestine as a country. But I’m standing there, raising my flag. That’s my role.”

Omar Ismail, born in Dubai to parents who hail from the West Bank city of Jenin, has bigger athletic ambitions. Shortly after earning a spot on the team at a taekwondo qualifying tournament in China, the 18-year-old said he wants to win a gold medal in Paris.

But even if he doesn’t win a medal, Ismail, who has been visiting relatives in Jenin, believes his participation alone symbolizes something bigger than himself.

“I represent the identity of the people of Palestine, their steadfastness,” Ismail said. “I want to inspire the children of Palestine, show them that they can all achieve their goals, give them hope.”

Even under the best of circumstances, maintaining a vibrant Olympic training program in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem is difficult. Nine months of war between Israel and Hamas have made that challenge nearly impossible.

According to Nader Jayousi, technical director of the Palestinian Olympic Committee, much of the country’s sports infrastructure, clubs and institutions have been demolished.

“Do you know how many approved swimming pools there are in Palestine? Zero,” said al-Bawaab, who noted that the Palestinian economy is too small and fragile to consistently support the development of elite athletes. “There is no sport in Palestine. We are a country right now that doesn’t have enough food or shelter, and we are trying to figure out how to survive. We are not yet a sporting country.”

The Palestinian diaspora has always played an important role in the Olympic Games and other international competitions, Jayousi said.

Jayousi said that it is not the first time that most of the athletes representing the POC come from abroad. He said that the Palestinian diaspora is always represented in major international sporting competitions and Olympic Games.

According to local health officials, more than 38,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas began. The dead included about 300 athletes, referees, coaches and others who worked in Gaza’s sports sector, Jayousi said.

Perhaps the most prominent Palestinian athlete to die in the war was long-distance runner Majed Abu Maraheel, who in 1996 in Atlanta became the first Palestinian to compete in the Olympic Games. He died earlier this year of kidney failure after he could not be treated in Gaza and evacuated to Egypt, Palestinian officials said.

Only one Palestinian athlete, Ismail, qualified for the Paris Games on his own merit. The other seven were given their places through a wildcard system provided as part of the universality quota places. Backed by the International Olympic Committee, it allows athletes representing poorer countries with less established sporting programs to compete even if they did not meet the sporting criteria.

“We were very confident that we would go to Paris 2024 with qualified athletes,” said Jayousi, the team’s technical director. “We lost many of these opportunities due to the complete shutdown of all activities in the country.”

Palestinian athletes will participate in boxing, judo, swimming, shooting, athletics and taekwondo.

There is a chance that Palestinian athletes will compete against Israelis in Paris. The Israeli Olympic Committee said it is sending 88 athletes to Paris and that they would compete against athletes from all over.

Jayousi would not say whether clear guidelines have been given to Palestinian athletes on whether they would be expected to withdraw from the competition rather than face Israelis as a form of protest against the war in Gaza.

“Let’s see what the draws will put our athletes up against,” he said. “We know what we want to do, but we don’t have to say everything we want to do.”

One Olympic hopeful who didn’t make it was Gaza-born weightlifter Mohammed Hamada, a flag bearer at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. When the war started, Hamada moved to Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah and trained there for 25 days. But food shortages caused Hamada — who competed in the 102-kilogram (225-pound) weight class — to gradually lose about 18 kilograms (40 pounds).

Hamada eventually got a visa to leave Gaza and moved to Qatar to continue his training. But, Jayousi said, he just couldn’t get his body back to Olympic-level condition.

Jayousi said winning medals is not the highest priority for the athletes who have come to Paris. (No Palestinian athlete has ever won an Olympic medal.)

“We are going here to show our Palestinianism,” he said. “We are focused on fighting until the last second, which is what we have been doing as a nation for the last 80 years.”

Al Bawaab said he wants to empower the next generation of Palestinian athletes, in part by giving them more financial resources. He founded the Palestinian Olympians Association to help athletes prepare for sports and life afterward, including by providing mental health support.

“We don’t have that sports culture yet,” al Bawaab said. “When I’m done with swimming, hopefully we’ll pick it up in the country. But you have to be safe first.”