FIFA to make decision on Israeli suspension by July

The FIFA Council is set to make a decision no later than 20 July on whether to agree to Palestine's call to suspend the Israeli federation.

The Palestinian federation (PFA) first proposed the sanctioning and suspension of the Israeli association back in April, on the grounds of human

rights and humanitarian law violations committed in the Gaza Strip.

The war began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 in which Palestinian militants killed around 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war which followed, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants in its count.

The PFA called for a vote to exclude Israel at FIFA Congress, which was supported in the room by the Jordanian FA.

However, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said it was a matter for the FIFA Council to make a decision on, once it had sought an independent legal assessment.

"Football should not and should never become a hostage for politics and always remain a vector for peace, a source of hope, a force of good, uniting people rather than dividing," Infantino said.

"All three of these proposals (from the PFA) fall under the competence of the FIFA Council and need therefore to be treated by this body.

"Now, due to the obvious sensitivity of these matters, FIFA will mandate, as of now, independent legal expertise to analyse and assess the three requests and ensure that the statutes and regulations of FIFA are applied in the correct way in order to ensure a fair and due process.

"This legal assessment will have to allow for inputs and claims of both member associations. The results of this analysis and the recommendations which will follow from this analysis will