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FIFA chief Gianni Infantino asserted that the global football governing body "is not able to address political problems" as calls increase on football organizations to impose sanctions against Israel.

A recent United Nations investigative panel determined last month that the Israeli government has carried out genocide against Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

The involvement of Israel in soccer was omitted as a official topic on the schedule of a FIFA council meeting held on the most recent Thursday.

Nonetheless, Infantino addressed the issue in his opening remarks for the session at FIFA's headquarters in Zurich.

The 55-year-old leader said FIFA was committed to "using the power of football" to "bring people together in a divided world".

"Our concerns are with those who are enduring hardship in the numerous disputes that are ongoing around the world today, and the primary message that football can communicate right now is one of harmony and togetherness," the FIFA president said.

"FIFA cannot resolve international political challenges, but it has the ability to and must promote football around the world by utilizing its connecting, educational, cultural and charitable principles."

The Israeli squad is presently participating in qualification matches for next summer's World Cup tournament, while Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv are taking part in the European competition.

Amnesty International has called on FIFA, which runs the World Cup, and UEFA, which organizes European competitions, to ban the Israel's football body from their competitions.

FIFA vice-president Victor Montagliani stated on the previous day that UEFA should make the decision.

"First and foremost, [Israel] is a member of UEFA, no different than I have to deal with a participant of my area for any given issue. They have to handle that," he said.

Israel are in third place in their World Cup qualifying group - managed by UEFA - six points behind behind front-runners Norway.

The group winner from each pool qualifies automatically for the tournament, with the second-place teams going into the play-offs.

The 2026 tournament is being co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and the Canadian country.

The American leader Donald Trump's government has vowed to fight any efforts to block Israel from taking part.

The United Nations findings said there were reasonable grounds to determine four of the five atrocities defined under international law had been carried out by Israeli forces in the Gaza region since the start of the conflict in last year.

A group of rights specialists at the UN later called on FIFA and UEFA to remove Israel's national team from global competitions, saying: "Sports must reject the perception that it is business as usual."

Israel has regularly rejected that its actions in the territory amount to genocide and says they are warranted as a method of protection.

Its foreign ministry described the UN report "misleading and inaccurate".