Paris, France - After an Israeli sniper shot him and left him paralyzed as a teen, Palestinian athlete Fadi Aldeeb is in Paris to represent his country at the Paralympic Games.

Aldeeb – the only athlete representing Palestine at the 2024 Paralympics – received enormous applause as he joined the parade in the Games' opening ceremony on Wednesday. The 39-year-old will compete for his country in shot put.

The Gaza native was left disabled back in 2001 after he was shot in the spine by an Israeli sniper during the Second Intifada. He has gone on to play professional basketball as well as compete in shot put and discus.

"I'm here not for myself. I'm here for my country. I want to raise my Palestinian flag here," Aldeeb said in a video by AJ+.

But staying focused on his training has been difficult for Aldeeb amid Israel's all-out assault on the Gaza Strip, which has killed at least 17 of his family members since October, as well as several of his fellow national team members.

Israel has slaughtered over 40,000 people in Gaza – including at least 400 athletes and sports workers – in its US-backed siege, as survivors face the overwhelming threats of displacement, disease, and starvation.

"My body is here, but my mind, my heart is in inside, still in Gaza," Aldeeb said.

Even before October, Palestinian athletes faced significant hurdles due to Israel's blockade on basic training equipment and supplies.

Aldeeb hopes to use his experience competing on the international stage to help other Palestinian people, especially children, enjoy the benefits of sports.

"For me, I have the power to go inside to start to build [an] academy to improve [children's] social inclusion, as a sport," the father of three told AJ+.

"I want to take my second step as a coach. My knowledge, my information, I want to put it inside of Gaza."

In the meantime, Aldeeb is in Paris to show the world the strength, resilience, and humanity of the Palestinian people.

Calls to bar Israel from the Paralympic Games were rejected, as they were for the Olympics earlier this summer, while Russian athletes are prohibited from competing under their country's flag amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.