Jakarta. Merince Kogoya, Miss Papua Pegunungan 2025, has been disqualified from the Miss Indonesia 2025 pageant following the circulation of a video on social media showing her expressing support for Israel, sparking online controversy.

Kogoya, born in Wamena, Papua Pegunungan, on August 14, 2005, was reportedly sent home on Sunday evening and will no longer continue in the competition.

“Miss Papua Pegunungan, Merince Kogoya, has been sent home last night and will no longer continue in the Miss Indonesia 2025 competition,” read a post on social media, as quoted by Beritasatu.com on Monday.

The post indicated that her disqualification was linked to social media content perceived as pro-Zionist, including images of an Israeli flag being raised in Papua.

The widely circulated video shows Kogoya dancing with several people during an event while waving the Israeli flag. Her post included the caption, “Act for Zion, stand for Jerusalem, rise for Israel, harvest for the nations,” which quickly gained traction and fueled public debate.

Responding to the controversy, Kogoya clarified her position and expressed regret over the public perception of the video.

“I was simply practicing my faith as a follower of Christ to pray and bless, but my reels video from two years ago was shared widely with many inaccurate interpretations of my beliefs,” Kogoya said in a statement on her Instagram Story on Monday.

Following her disqualification, the Miss Indonesia 2025 organization has appointed Karmen Anastasya, the first runner-up from the Miss Papua Pegunungan 2025 competition, to represent the province in the national pageant.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian death toll from the 20-month Israel-Hamas war has surpassed 55,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry as of June 11, with women and children making up more than half of those killed.

Israeli forces reportedly killed at least 22 people and wounded 20 others, many while they were attempting to obtain desperately needed food aid in southern Gaza on Monday, according to witnesses, hospitals, and Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said it received the bodies of 11 people who were shot while returning from an aid site associated with the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund. This incident is part of a deadly pattern that has killed more than 500 Palestinians during chaotic and controversial aid distributions over the past month. Another 10 people were killed at a United Nations aid warehouse in northern Gaza, according to the Health Ministry.

Yousef Mahmoud Mokheimar, who was among those seeking aid, described how Israeli troops in vehicles and tanks approached and initially fired warning shots before opening fire on the crowd.

“They fired at us indiscriminately,” Mokheimar said, adding that he was shot in the leg while a man attempting to rescue him was also shot.

He reported seeing troops detain six people, including three children, though it was unclear what happened to them. “We don’t know whether they are still alive,” he said.

Meanwhile, British police said they were reviewing videos from the Glastonbury Festival after rapper Bobby Vylan of rap group Bob Vylan led chants of “death to the IDF”,  referring to the Israel Defense Forces, during a performance on Saturday. Vylan and Irish rap group Kneecap also led crowds in chants of “free, free Palestine” during the widely attended festival.