Dozens of athetes have joined rights groups in calling on UEFA to ban Israel from football as pressure mounts on the European governing body to take action.

UEFA and FIFA have faced repeated calls to act over the war in Gaza, with Palestinian officials pressing for Israel to be suspended from international football.

UEFA considered holding a vote in October on whether to suspend Israel from European competitions over the war in Gaza, but it was paused after a US-brokered ceasefire took effect on Oct 10.

On Tuesday, a letter signed by more than 70 elite athletes was sent to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin organised on behalf of the campaign groups Game Over Israel and Athletes 4 Peace.

The signatories called on Israel to be suspended to ensure that UEFA and the sporting community it governs “does not participate in the normalisation of genocide, apartheid, and crimes against humanity”, Middle East Eye reported.

The athletes who endorsed the call include French World Cup winner Paul Pogba, Dutch forward Anwar El Ghazi, Moroccan player Hakim Ziyech and Spanish winger Adama Traore.

“No shared venue, stage, or arena in international civil society should welcome a regime that commits genocide, apartheid, and other crimes against humanity,” read the letter, penned by Game Over Israel.

“Israel’s continued impunity for such crimes will only be ended by the weight of collective conscientious action, including measures to block their entry to sporting or cultural events and activities.

“The participation of teams from illegal settlements [in occupied Palestine] in Israeli football leagues is a breach of fundamental principles of international law,” the letter stated.

“UEFA’s relationship with the IFA [Israel Football Association] — providing funding and allowing Israeli teams to play in international tournaments — means that Uefa may also be facilitating these violations and may themselves be accountable.”

Ashish Prashar, campaign director of Game Over Israel, said: “For President Ceferin to pause his vote to suspend Israel from European football over a peace plan in name only is either grossly naïve or purposefully blind.”

Human rights advocacy groups, including the Hind Rajab Foundation and the Gaza Tribunal, also signed the letter.

The petition marks a continuation of a campaign demanding that UEFA ban Israel from its events, citing atrocities committed during its war on Gaza.

Earlier this month, members of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) voted overwhelmingly for its board to request that UEFA immediately suspend Israel from European competitions.

The Irish resolution followed calls in September from the heads of the Turkish and Norwegian soccer governing bodies for Israel to be suspended from international competition.

Those requests came after United Nations experts appealed to FIFA and UEFA to suspend Israel from international football, citing a UN Commission of Inquiry report that said Israel had committed genocide during the war in Gaza.

Israel has denied committing genocide and described the report as scandalous.