TODAY marked 100 days of Israel’s latest brutal and relentless bombardment of Gaza, reducing the small enclave to rubble, displacing almost 90 per cent of its citizens and killing well over 23,000 Palestinians.

One of those victims was 42-year-old footballer coach Hani al-Masdar, a prominent figure who coached Palestine’s Olympic football team.

The coach’s premature and violent death has made Palestine’s presence in football’s Asian Cup ever more poignant and heart-wrenching.

“A great loss,” Palestine’s national team head coach Makram Daboub said, just as his team were preparing for their first test against Iran today on the 100-day anniversary.

The Star went to press before the game ended last night, unfortunately, however this match was perhaps about more than goal-scoring for Palestinians.

“We just want to bring joy to our people,” Daboub said.

That said, it’ll be a tough opening game for the Palestinians, facing three-time champion Iran, particularly considering, as team captain Musab Battat said on Saturday: “There has been very little football activity in Palestine for three months since the start of the war and this impacted us negatively.”

That said, Battat pledges that the team, who have continued to  play friendlies abroad, “will want to put in good performances and get good results for our fans.”

The tournament has already been a moment of pride for Palestine, with Qatar captain Hassan al-Haydos hand the honour of taking the pre-tournament oath to Battat during Friday’s opening ceremony in Lusail.

“As a captain, saying the pledge was a proud moment for me as a captain of Palestine,” Battat said.

His team lost 1-0 against Uzbekistan and drew 0-0 with Saudi Arabia in warm-up games this month. In November it lost 1-0 against Australia and drew 0-0 with Lebanon.

Despite that winless run, Battat spoke with confidence ahead of facing Iran.

“Our preparations went well, we are ready and fully aware of the size of the task at hand in this tournament. We are in good form at the moment and raring to go,” he said.

Daboub added “Iran are one of the best teams in the continent. They have a lot of top players and are a talented group.”

“Recently we played very well against Australia, Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia, so in one match we fancy our chances, and we can dream of going through to the next round.”

The United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong are also in Group C.