Israeli bobsled pilot says team apartment 'burgled' during Olympics training

The Israeli bobsled team have had "thousands of dollars" of personal items and passports stolen from their apartment during training for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, according to a team member.

"While training for the Olympics the @israelbobsled apartment was broken into during their training, thousands of dollars of stuff and passports were stolen. What a season...", AJ Edelman wrote on X.

It was not immediately clear which country the apartment was in, though Italian media said it was not Italy.

A map that appears to be of Prague can be seen in the room in a photograph posted by Edelman.

"Such a gross violation -- suitcases, shoes, equipment, passports stolen, and the boys headed right back to training today," Eldelman wrote.

The team is in training for its first Olympic event on 16 February, he said.

International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said: "I understand that this was in a pre-Games lodging and therefore was not within our zone.

"Also, the most important thing is to say that we support them. We will do what we can.

"If they need any help, we will obviously do that."

The Israeli team received a smattering of boos during the Olympic Games' opening ceremony on Friday, likely due to Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip - ongoing for over two years and labelled as a genocide by the UN, NGOs and experts, having killed over 71,000 Palestinians.

Protests demonstrating against Israel's war in the Palestinian territory have taken place often in Italy, as well as strikes. A protest was held earlier this week outside of Milan State University calling for Israel's exclusion from the Winter Games.