A small ceremony was held to send off Palestine’s official delegation to the Paris Olympics on Sunday, as well as to recognise the many Palestinian athletes who will not be present, Al Jazeera reports.

Jibril Rajoub, head of the Palestine Olympic Committee, said 400 athletes, coaches and sporting officials have been killed in Gaza since October.

“Through this participation, we want to present the suffering of the Palestinian people and the unprecedented killing taking place in Gaza,” Rajoub said.

“We want this participation to be a message from the Palestinians to the world that it is time for them to be free in their homeland,” he added.

Eight athletes will represent Palestine this year, competing in athletics, swimming, archery, taekwondo, judo and boxing.

The athletes will represent Palestine at a “very dark moment in our history”, said Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin in Ramallah on Sunday.

“You are not just athletes, you are also … symbols of Palestinian resistance,” Aghabekian added.