DOHA: Qatar said it was set to hold talks with Hamas negotiators, Egypt and Turkey on Tuesday to discuss US President Donald Trump&#39;s Gaza plan, adding that Hamas would study it &quot;responsibly.&quot; Trump unveiled a plan in Washington calling for a ceasefire, release of hostages by Hamas within 72 hours, disarmament of the group and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, followed by a post-war transitional authority headed by the president himself.&nbsp;Qatar and Egypt handed the proposal to Hamas on Monday, and &lsquo;the Hamas&rsquo; negotiating delegation promised to study it responsibly,&quot; foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told a press conference.&nbsp;&quot;There will also be another meeting today, also attended by the Turkish side, with the negotiating delegation.&quot;&nbsp;The head of Egyptian intelligence and his Turkish counterpart were in Doha he said, to take part in negotiations.&nbsp;&quot;It is still too early to speak about responses, but we are truly optimistic that this plan, as we said, is a comprehensive one,&quot; Ansari added.&nbsp;Following the announcement on Monday, Qatari authorities said they were ready to press for a truce in the Palestinian territory following an Israeli apology for its unprecedented strike targeting Hamas leaders in Doha earlier this month.&nbsp;Ansari added that the US had given security assurances to Qatar and Israel had promised not to attack it again.&nbsp;&quot;The security assurances and the commitments that were offered in the call on Monday by President Trump and the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu were very clear and were under the guarantee of the US president that Qatar will never be attacked,&quot; Ansari said.&nbsp;&quot;We are content with the security assurances that we have received,&quot; he said, adding there had also been &quot;a commitment by Israel not to attack Qatar again in its capacity or otherwise.&quot;&nbsp;Qatar, along with Egypt and the United States, had led efforts to broker a comprehensive ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Middle East

Qatar will host talks Tuesday with Hamas, Egypt, and Turkey on President Trump’s Gaza plan, which calls for ceasefire, hostage releases, Hamas disarmament, and Israeli withdrawal. Doha voiced optimism after receiving US security assurances and Israeli commitments.

Qatar to hold Gaza plan talks with Hamas, Turkey on Tuesday

GENEVA: European soccer body Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is moving toward a vote to suspend its member federation Israel over the war in Gaza, people familiar with the proposal told The Associated Press on Thursday. &nbsp;A majority of UEFA&rsquo;s 20-member executive committee is expected to support any vote in favor of suspending Israeli teams from international play, two sources told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.&nbsp;The move comes two weeks before the Israel men&rsquo;s team is due to resume its 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign with away games against Norway and Italy.&nbsp;It is unclear whether world soccer body FIFA will support excluding Israel given the close relations between FIFA&rsquo;s leader, Gianni Infantino, and President Donald Trump.&nbsp;The Trump administration&rsquo;s support to secure the World Cup, and process visas for players, officials and potentially hundreds of thousands of visiting fans, is seen as key to FIFA delivering a successful tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico next year.&nbsp;FIFA&rsquo;s ruling council is scheduled to meet in Zurich next week. The 37-member council includes eight from UEFA.&nbsp;Calls to exclude Israel from soccer and other sports have increased in recent weeks amid an outcry over the humanitarian toll of its military campaign in Gaza.Last week Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S&aacute;nchez said Israel should be banned from international sports events just like Russia, which was sidelined after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.&nbsp;UEFA and its president Aleksander Ceferin signaled a tougher view on Israel last month when banners saying &ldquo;Stop Killing Children. Stop Killing Civilians&rdquo; were placed on the field in front of the Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham teams ahead of the Super Cup game in Udine, Italy.&nbsp;Israel&rsquo;s sports and culture minister, Miki Zohar, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of Israel&rsquo;s soccer federation, Moshe Zuares, have been working &ldquo;intensively behind the scenes&rdquo; to block efforts to oust Israel from UEFA, Zohar&#39;s office said Thursday.&nbsp;&ldquo;The right step now is to act responsibly with the professionals and not to make statements, and this is how all the parties involved in the efforts are acting. We will address this later.&rdquo;&nbsp;Critics of Israel&#39;s response since the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas provoked the war have consistently pointed to Russia being suspended by FIFA and UEFA within days of the full military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.&nbsp;Last week, Israel was accused of committing genocide in Gaza by an inquiry commission commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council.&nbsp;The Russia ban also was driven by a swath of UEFA member federations refusing to play scheduled games against Russian opponents, including Poland which had been due to go to Moscow for a 2022 World Cup qualifying playoff.&nbsp;FIFA and UEFA later argued when winning at a Russian appeal against the ban that they could not risk chaos in their own competitions, including the World Cup.&nbsp;The Norwegian soccer federation also pledged to give its profits from ticket sales for the October 11, game in Oslo to humanitarian work in Gaza by Doctors Without Borders.&nbsp;Both Italy&rsquo;s Gabriele Gravina and Lise Klaveness of Norway are elected members of the UEFA executive committee which could vote on suspending Israel. Zuares, the Israeli soccer federation president, is also on the panel.&nbsp;

Football

UEFA is set to vote on suspending Israel from international soccer over the Gaza war, amid growing European calls. The move comes before Israel’s World Cup qualifiers against Norway and Italy scheduled next month.

Articles tagged with "GAZA"

Qatar to hold Gaza plan talks with Hamas, Turkey on Tuesday

European soccer body UEFA moves toward vote to suspend Israel