Italy are struggling to qualify automatically for next year’s World Cup finals and the pressure on the team is exacerbated by the tension surrounding next Tuesday’s qualifier with Israel in Udine.Italy was the scene of some of Europe’s biggest pro-Palestinian protests last weekend, as Israeli forces continue their offensive in Gaza.Hundreds of thousands of people gathered across Italy in anger at Israel’s actions, and calls for the country to be barred from international sport have grown louder.The protests were in response to Israel’s military operation in Gaza, which was sparked by the attack by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, on Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip.During Friday’s massive strike action in support of the Palestinians, demonstrators went to the Italian national team’s training centre in Florence to demand the match against Israel be called off.As of Tuesday only around 4,000 tickets had been sold for the game in Udine, a small city in Italy’s far north-east, which was picked specifically to help limit the potential for disorder.Udine was the venue when Italy — who face Estonia in Tallinn on Saturday — last hosted Israel, in the Nations League in September 2024. That match passed off largely without incident, albeit surrounded by a massive security operation which included soldiers on the roof of the stadium.But the threat of much bigger and more disruptive protests led Udine’s mayor Alberto Felice De Toni to ask for the match to be postponed.- ‘Very sad’ -This week Italy’s coach Gennaro Gattuso said the situation in Gaza was “very sad” and lamented a difficult atmosphere for a match which will be key to Italy’s hopes of avoiding missing out on a third straight World Cup.”There will be 10,000 people outside the stadium and 5-6,000 inside it… I would have preferred to play a home match in front of an enthusiastic crowd like we did in Bergamo (where Italy beat Estonia 5-0) a month ago,” Gattuso said.His task was already complicated enough without the external political pressure of playing Israel, as direct qualification for the World Cup is seriously in doubt.Only the winner of the five-team group is guaranteed an automatic spot and Italy sit second, level on nine points with Israel and six behind leaders Norway, but with a game in hand on both.However Norway’s far superior goal difference — they have a 16-goal advantage over Italy — means Gattuso’s side can only top the group if they win all four of their remaining matches and Erling Haaland and company slip up before they travel to the San Siro next month.That leaves second place and a spot in the play-offs as the likely route to the World Cup, a tournament in which Italy haven’t played a knockout fixture since winning it in 2006.Italy exited at the qualification play-off stage for the last two World Cups, failing to reach the 2022 edition in Qatar despite being reigning European champions.

Israel and Hamas agreed on Thursday to the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire aimed at ending a war that has killed tens of thousands, razed the Palestinian territory and unleashed a major humanitarian crisis.The deal, to be signed Thursday, includes the release of hostages and prisoners as well as a surge of aid into Gaza after more than two years of war started by Hamas’s unprecedented October 2023 attack on Israel. Palestinian militant group Hamas would release all hostages while Israel would pull its troops back to an agreed on line, US President Donald Trump said after talks in Egypt on his 20-point peace plan resulted in a deal.Qatar said the deal was the “first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, which will lead to ending the war, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of aid”.Hamas will exchange 20 living hostages for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners as part of the first phase of a deal, a source within the militant group told AFP Thursday.The exchange will take place within 72 hours of the implementation of the agreement, which is expected to be signed on Thursday, the source familiar with the negotiations said.The hostages will be released in exchange for 250 Palestinians sentenced to life imprisonment and 1,700 others arrested by Israel since the war began, the source added.”I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.”This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace.”Trump also thanked mediators Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, adding: “BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!”Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would bring the hostages home “with God’s help”.Trump said earlier that he may travel to the Middle East this week as a deal was “very close”.In a dramatic moment, AFP journalists saw US Secretary of State Marco Rubio interrupt an event at the White House and hand Trump an urgent note about the progress of the negotiations in Egypt.”I may go there sometime toward the end of the week, maybe on Sunday,” Trump said, adding that he was “most likely” to turn up in Egypt but would also consider going to war-torn Gaza.Trump’s plan called for a ceasefire, the release of all the hostages held in Gaza, Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from the territory.Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff arrived at the talks earlier.- ‘Optimism prevails’ -As night fell in the coastal area of Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza, an AFP contributor described an atmosphere of anticipation before the announcement, with joyful chants of “Allahu akbar”, meaning God is the greatest, and some celebratory gunfire into the air.”We’re closely following every bit of news about the negotiations and the ceasefire,” said 50-year-old Mohammed Zamlot, who had been displaced from northern Gaza.Hamas had submitted a list of Palestinian prisoners it wants released from Israeli jails in the first phase of the truce.In exchange, Hamas is set to free the remaining 47 hostages, both alive and dead, who were seized in its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which sparked the war.Qatar’s prime minister and Turkey’s intelligence chief were also expected at the talks on Wednesday. Hamas said it would be joined by delegations from Islamic Jihad — which has also held some of the hostages in Gaza — as well as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.The negotiations were taking place under the shadow of the second anniversary of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.Militants also took 251 people hostage into Gaza, where 47 remain, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,183 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.The territory’s civil defence agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas’s authority, said the bombardment of Gaza had not stopped in the hours before the deal. An AFP journalist in Israel near the Gaza border reported hearing multiple explosions in the morning.- Protests, prisoners -Global pressure to end the war has escalated, with much of Gaza flattened, a UN-declared famine unfolding and Israeli hostage families still longing for their loved ones’ return.One key to the negotiations was the names of the Palestinian prisoners Hamas pushed for.High-profile inmate Marwan Barghouti — from Hamas’s rival, the Fatah movement — is among those the group wanted to see released, according to Egyptian state-linked media. Hamas’s top negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, also said the Islamist group wants “guarantees from President Trump and the sponsor countries that the war will end once and for all”.burs-dk/bjt/tc

It was a typically theatrical moment for the man who loves to publicly boast of being the “peacemaker-in-chief.” Donald Trump’s top diplomat interrupted a televised meeting at the White House to hand the US president a note and whisper in his ear that a Gaza deal was imminent.Shortly afterwards he announced the agreement on his Truth Social network. “BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!” he posted.But while the climax played out in front of reporters, including AFP journalists in the room, most of Trump’s efforts had been behind the scenes, as he sought to pressure a reluctant Benjamin Netanyahu and win Arab support.- Pressure on Netanyahu – Seeking an unlikely Nobel Peace Prize and keen to bolster his legacy, Trump’s approach has been different to the blank check he has previously been regarded as giving key ally Israel. When Trump hosted Netanyahu at the White House on September 29 to unveil his 20-point peace plan, he publicly gave the appearance of being fully behind the Israeli prime minister.Trump said that if Hamas did not accept the plan then Israel would have his “full backing to finish the job” and destroy the Palestinian militant group.But in private, Trump was putting on the thumbscrews.Firstly, the plan he laid before Netanyahu and Israeli officials had already been drafted following extensive consultations with Arab and Muslim leaders at the United Nations the previous week.When Netanyahu was confronted with it, he found there were key areas in it that he had sworn not to accept, especially on his refusal to allow a Palestinian state.- Arab unity over Qatar attack  – Trump was also privately incensed by Israel’s attack on Hamas members in fellow US ally Qatar while negotiations were at a sensitive stage. He used Arab unity against the attack to get them all to agree to the plan.He then ambushed Netanyahu, making him call Qatar’s leader from the Oval Office to apologize. Trump even sat holding the phone for Netanyahu while the Israeli leader read from a piece of paper, a photo released by the White House showed.Politico reported that a senior Qatari official was also in the room for the call to make sure Netanyahu stayed on-script. Trump later signed an extraordinary order giving Qatar US security guarantees.The shift also reflected the close ties that Trump has fostered with Arab states during both his presidencies.In his first term the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco signed the Abraham Accords recognising Israel.This time around, Trump’s first major foreign trip was to the Gulf states of Qatar, Egypt and Abu Dhabi — with no stop in Israel.- Seizing on Hamas offer – Trump piled on the pressure, giving Hamas a deadline of October 5 to make a deal or face “all hell.”Hamas responded cunningly, playing on Trump’s well-documented pledge to win the release of all the hostages held in Gaza. Trump has repeatedly met relatives of the hostages at the White House.Trump quickly seized it as a win. He issued a video message and, in an unprecedented step for a US president, reposted the statement by the group that Washington has designated a terrorist organization.There was no mention of the fact that Hamas had not fully agreed to most of the other points in his plan.But instead of quibbling over the details, Trump pushed Israel, Hamas and their mediators to quickly thrash out a deal.Trump told the Axios news outlet that he had said to Netanyahu: “‘Bibi, this is your chance for victory.’ He was fine with it. He’s got to be fine with it. He has no choice. With me, you got to be fine.”