FIFA, the governing body of world football, refrained from suspending Israel on Thursday, instead asking for a disciplinary investigation into allegations of discrimination brought forward by Palestinian officials.

A senior FIFA panel overseeing governance will separately investigate "the participation in Israeli competitions of Israeli football teams allegedly based in the territory of Palestine," the Zürich-based body said after a meeting of its ruling Council.

The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) has consistently asked FIFA for more than a decade to take action against the Israeli football body for incorporating teams from occupied West Bank settlements in its leagues.

The compromise decisions came more than four months after Palestinian officials had urged FIFA to suspend Israel's membership at a meeting in May.

The request to FIFA's congress in May also cited "international law violations" in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas conflict and directed the football body to its statutory commitments on human rights and against discrimination.

FIFA delayed making a decision in May until after a legal review scheduled for July, then pushed back the issue two more times until the meeting on Thursday.

"The FIFA Council has implemented due diligence on this very sensitive matter and, based on a thorough assessment, we have followed the advice of the independent experts," FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.

The latest process follows a pattern – under Infantino and his predecessor Sepp Blatter – of Palestinian requests for FIFA to uphold its legal statutes and the question then being steered toward ad hoc panels and other committees.

FIFA gave no timetable Thursday for the investigations it has not requested.