Igor Stimac says Indian football is "definitely out of its slumber" but the outspoken coach warned against big expectations at the Asian Cup starting on Friday in Qatar.

Football has struggled to find its feet in the cricket-obsessed nation of 1.4 billion people, with former FIFA president Sepp Blatter once calling India "a sleeping giant" of the sport.

Former West Ham and Derby defender Stimac was appointed coach in May 2019 and India briefly broke into the top 100 of FIFA's world rankings for only the second time in nearly three decades.

A British-Palestinian doctor who worked in Gazan hospitals during the Israel-Hamas conflict hopes that testimony he has given to UK police will lead to prosecutions for war crimes.

Ghassan Abu Sitta, a plastic surgeon specialising in conflict injuries, spent 43 days volunteering in the besieged Palestinian territory, mostly at the al-Ahli and Shifa hospitals in the north.

Dakar Rally veteran Stephane Peterhansel notched up a record-equalling 50th stage win on Sunday as Spanish rider Carles Falcon was reported in a "serious condition" after crashing in Saudi Arabia.

Falcon, who made his Dakar debut in 2022, was nearing the second stage finish line when he suffered a bad accident.

"Immediately notified by another racer who was following him, the organisation dispatched a medical helicopter which took care of the injured motorcyclist in a condition considered serious. He was airlifted to Al-Duwadimi hospital," race organiser ASO said.

Spanish motorcyclist Carles Falcon was helicoptered to hospital with serious injuries in Saudi Arabia on Sunday after crashing during the second stage of the Dakar Rally.

The high-speed race over jagged rocks and winding sand dunes in the Saudi desert was almost complete when the experienced off-road rider from Tarragona suffered an accident.

Audi veteran Stephane Peterhansel left his rivals trailing in the dust on stage two of the Dakar Rally on Sunday in a treacherous 463km race through the winding dunes of the Saudi desert.

Only nine-time rally world champion Sebastien Loeb got anywhere near Peterhansel at 29sec as American rookie Seth Quintero came home third at 3min 11sec.

The 58-year-old Peterhansel scooped his 50th Dakar Rally stage win to become joint record holder with Ari Vatanen.

"I stopped counting a long time ago, but it's good to know I can still beat him," Peterhansel said.

Israel pounded Gaza on Sunday as its war with Hamas raged into a fourth month, while top US diplomat Antony Blinken decried the "tragedy" of civilian deaths and warned the conflict threatened the wider region.

US Secretary of State Blinken, speaking in Qatar on the latest leg of his fourth Middle East tour since the start of the war, also said Palestinians displaced by the fighting must be allowed to "return home".

The Qatar-based Al Jazeera network said two journalists working for it were killed when their car was struck in Rafah, in southern Gaza.

Al Jazeera said Sunday two of its Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip were killed in an Israeli strike on their car, in what the Qatar-based media network claimed was a "targeted killing".

Hamza Wael Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria, who also worked as a video stringer for AFP and other news organisations, were killed while they were "on their way to carry out their duty" for the channel in the Gaza Strip, the network said.

A third freelance journalist travelling with them, Hazem Rajab, was seriously injured.

Jordan's king urged the top United States diplomat on Sunday to push for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and an end to the humanitarian crisis brought by three months of war, the royal palace said.

King Abdullah II made the remarks to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on a Middle East tour aiming to ensure the Israel-Hamas war does not spread.

The war that began on October 7 with an unprecedented attack against Israel by Gaza-based Hamas militants triggered relentless retaliatory bombardment by Israel, leaving Gazans desperately in need of humanitarian aid.

An air strike, gunfire and explosives across the West Bank killed at least nine Palestinians and two Israelis on Sunday, officials on both sides said as violence surges in the occupied territory.

Seven Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike in the area of Jenin refugee camp, a militant stronghold in the northern West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Israeli police said an officer was killed when her "vehicle... was hit by an explosive device" during a raid on the camp, adding that three other officers were wounded.

Israel said it had "dismantled" Hamas's military leadership in northern Gaza as its war against the Palestinian group entered a fourth month Sunday, with fears mounting that the conflict could spread into neighbouring Lebanon.

Six people were killed early Sunday during an Israeli raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, with witnesses reporting that Israel had also carried out air strikes in Gaza's main southern city of Khan Yunis.