Hapoel Tel Aviv will get back into action in EuroCup play when they visit Reyer Venezia on Tuesday night (21:00) in the shadow of Israel’s war with Hamas. The Reds headed to Italy late last week to begin preparations anew after having not played since the beginning of October when they defeated Cedevita Olimpija 100-73 in the season opener back at the Drive In Arena in Tel Aviv. The club’s imports left the Holy Land at the outset of the war while the Israelis joined the balance of the team to prepare for the upcoming game against former Maccabi Tel Aviv’s head coach Neven Spahija.

Hapoel’s bench boss Danny Franco knows that playing will be a challenge as his charges hearts and thoughts will be back with the people of Israel, “Our hearts and thoughts will be with the people of the State of Israel and the Hapoel Tel Aviv community who lost so many people in such a cruel attack, the injured and those who had to be evacuated from their homes. We are hoping for good news and basketball is secondary right now, but we want to give everyone a few moments of joy during these days where we understand more than ever how important the team is to them.

“We have practiced really well in Italy the last few days. We haven’t played for quite a long time which is not healthy for a competitive team but we did our best over the last few days since the team returned to practicing together.”

Captain Bar Timor added, “Despite the difficult situation and our aching hearts, we have a game on Tuesday and we will try to put aside the thoughts about this horrible tragedy that our people and fans are experiencing for forty minutes together in order to achieve an important road win. We are counting on having been together here for the last few days and the amazing support from Israel.”