I have full confidence in Wada - IOC president Bach

Thomas Bach has been president of the International Olympic Committee since 2013

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach says he has "full confidence" in the World Anti-Doping Agency after 23 Chinese swimmers were cleared to compete at the Tokyo Olympics despite testing positive for a banned substance.

The swimmers tested positive for heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ) at a training camp seven months before the 2020 Games.

Wada said it was "not in a position to disprove" an assertion from the China Anti-Doping Agency (Chinada) that they had unintentionally ingested the substance.

Wada has begun an independent review into its handling of the case.

Bach said he and the IOC had "full confidence in Wada and that Wada have followed their regulations".

He said that if the swimmers were cleared, they would be free to compete at this summer's Olympics in Paris.

"If the procedures are followed, there is no reason for them not to be there," he told news agency AFP.

On Friday Chinada said it would "actively co-operate" with Wada's audit.

United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) chief executive Travis Tygart said Wada and Chinada had "swept these positives under the carpet".

Wada responded by saying those claims were "completely false and defamatory" and had been referred to lawyers.

Palestinian athletes to be invited to Olympics

Bach said he expects "six to eight" Palestinian athletes to compete at Paris 2024.

Qualification has yet to be decided for some sports, but Bach said some Palestinian athletes would be invited even if they did not qualify.

"We have made the clear commitment that even if no athlete would qualify on the field of play, then the NOC (National Olympic Committee) of Palestine would benefit from invitations," Bach said.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led gunmen carried out an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people - mostly civilians - and taking 253 others back to Gaza as hostages.

Since then, at least 34,356 people - most of them children and women - have been killed in Gaza, the territory's Hamas-run health ministry says.

The United Nations has warned of an impending humanitarian catastrophe and Israel has faced accusations of limiting the amount of aid reaching civilians by land.

Five Palestinian athletes competed at Tokyo 2020.

"From day one, we expressed how horrified we were, first on 7 October and then about the war and its horrifying consequences," Bach said.

"We have always been very clear, as we have been with the Russian invasion in Ukraine."