Israel can play men's Olympic soccer tournament

FIFA has postponed a decision on a Palestinian proposal to suspend Israel from international football because of the war with Hamas, clearing the way for the Israeli men’s national team to play at the Paris Olympics.

Football’s world governing body had been set to make a decision Saturday at an extraordinary council meeting after asking for an independent legal assessment of the Palestinian proposal two months ago. That decision would have come just four days before the start of the Olympic football tournament, where Israel has been drawn into a group with Japan, Mali and Paraguay.

However, FIFA said Thursday that it had pushed back the timeline because “more time is needed to conclude this process with due care and completeness” — meaning a decision is now set to come after the Olympics have finished.

FIFA said both parties had made requests for extensions “to submit their respective positions” and that the independent assessment will now be shared with FIFA by Aug. 31 at the latest.

The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) said it had received FIFA’s letter on Thursday, informing it of the postponement. The PFA said it had sought clarification from FIFA on the process for handling the legal opinion.

“The FIFA letter did not specify the mechanism by which the independent legal opinion will be handled by the council when presented,” the PFA said in a statement on Friday.

“The Palestinian Football Association has previously requested clarifications from FIFA regarding this matter multiple times.”

The men’s Olympic final is set to take place on Aug. 9.