Conflict casts shadow over Asian Cup

GAZA/JERUSALEM — Two weeks ahead of Palestine's opening game at the 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar, the team is struggling to focus as conflict rages on in Gaza, where thousands have been killed.

Some players have lost loved ones in Israel's relentless bombardment of the besieged territory in response to Hamas' Oct 7 attack on southern Israel.

Much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble, including stadiums, in air and artillery strikes and a ground offensive. Football fields have been used as makeshift graves for some of the dead as many cemeteries are either full or inaccessible.

"Everyone is glued to the news, before and after training, be it on the bus or at the hotel," the team's coach, Makram Daboub, said from Saudi Arabia where the players were training.

Qatar is hosting the 2023 Asian Cup from Jan 12 to Feb 10, and Palestine will play its opening game on Jan 14 against Iran.

With the conflict casting a shadow on the games, Israeli aircraft and tanks stepped up strikes in southern Gaza overnight, residents said, after Israel announced plans to pull back some troops.

At least 22,185 Palestinians have been killed and 57,035 wounded in the conflict, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

On the Israeli side, about 1,200 people were killed.

Israel has said the conflict in Gaza has many months to go. But it signaled a new phase in its offensive, with an Israeli official saying on Monday the military would draw down forces inside Gaza this month and shift to a monthslong phase of more localized "mopping up" operations, Reuters reported.

The Israeli official said the troop reduction would allow some reservists to return to civilian life, shoring up Israel's economy, and free up units in case of a wider conflict in the north.

A US official said the decision appeared to indicate the start of a shift to lower-intensity operations in the north of the Palestinian enclave.

Washington has been urging Israel to reduce the intensity of its military operation amid international calls for a cease-fire.

But residents said Israeli planes and tanks stepped up bombardment of the eastern and northern areas of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

The hints at a lowered tempo in northern Gaza came as the US Navy announced that the US aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford was returning to its home port in Virginia after being deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean following the outbreak of hostilities.

The aircraft carrier will return to the United States "in the coming days", the Navy said on Monday.

The carrier will "redeploy to its home port as scheduled to prepare for future deployments", it said in a statement.

Agencies Via Xinhua