Palestine football team pulls out of tournament involving India in Malaysia over Israel-Hamas conflict

The Palestinian football team has pulled out of a tournament in Malaysia, amid the deteriorating situation between Israel and Hamas terrorists. The team has not flown to the southeast nation where it was supposed to play in the Merdeka Cup friendly tournament in the capital, Kuala Lumpur.

As it stands, the opening match scheduled against Tajikistan on Friday (Oct 13) has been cancelled, according to the Malaysian Football Association.

"The Palestinian team had to withdraw from participating...because they could not fly to Kuala Lumpur due to the tense situation...at the moment," read the statement by the association.

With Palestine out, the tournament will go ahead with only three teams. While Tajikistan will get a bye to the final, Malaysia and India will square up against each other for a spot in the title decider.

Notably, the historic tournament is held to celebrate Malaysia's Independence Day. It was set to make a triumphant return after a decade-old hiatus but the situation has thrown a monkey wrench in the plans.

With no scope for improvement in the situation in the coming days, the Palestinian team's participation in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers remains in doubt as well. The team is scheduled to play against Australia and Lebanon next month. Additionally, it hasalso qualified for the regional Asian Cup tournament in Qatar, which begins in January.

UEFA postpones matches in Israel

Notably, the Palestinian football team deciding to skip footballing events comes a day after UEFA announced it was postponing all matches in Israel, at least for the next fortnight.

The European football governing body said Israel's Euro 2024 qualifier against Switzerland on Thursday, scheduled to take place at Tel Aviv's Bloomfield Stadium, is among matches postponed "in light of the current security situation".

Apart from the senior team's match, the Under-21 qualifiers involving Israel, Estonia and Germany have been postponed while the Under-17 matches involvingIsrael, Belgium, Gibraltar and Wales have been pushed as well.

What is happening in Israel?

More than 1,000 Israelis have been killed after Hamas - a terror outfit operating from the Gaza Strip - launched an ambush attack on Israel on Saturday (Oct 7).

A spectacular intelligence failure meant that thousands of crude missiles and rockets were fired that overwhelmed Israel's state-of-the-art Iron Dome missile defence system. Simultaneously, a group of ground fighters of Hamas illegally entered Israel and kidnapped, raped and slaughtered civilians, before retreating.

Since the attack, the fighting has only escalated as Israel has vowed to return the favour by flattening the Gaza Strip.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has predicted a “long and difficult war”, with reports claiming that Jerusalem may try to take full control of Gaza for the first time since it unilaterally withdrew from the territory in 2005.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE: