Israeli football supporters clashed with masked protesters following a football match in Amsterdam.
The incident happened after a Europa League match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv at the Johan Cruyff Arena, which resulted in the home team winning 5-0.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed that two rescue planes be sent immediately to Amsterdam following the incident.
Meanwhile, Israel's National Security Ministry has also urged its citizens in the Dutch city to stay in their hotel rooms following the attacks, the Prime Minister's office said in a second statement.
Israeli football supporters and Dutch youth clash near Amsterdam Central station
Reuters
Dutch mobile Police officers stand guard after several scuffles broke out in the city center following the UEFA Europa League match
Getty
Israeli football supporters and Dutch youth clash near Amsterdam Central station
Reuters
Palestinian and Israeli media reports tensions arose when Maccabi Tel-Aviv supporters damaged Palestinian flags in the city. Social media videos captured the purported incident, showing Israeli fans shouting slogans while an individual was taking the flag down.
Local police said 57 people had been held after the game as pro-Palestinian demonstrators tried to reach the stadium, even though the city had forbidden them to protest there. Police said fans had left the stadium without incidents, but during the night various clashes in the city centre were reported.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said he was "horrified by the anti-Semitic attacks on Israeli citizens. This is completely unacceptable."
In a phone call with Netanyahu he assured him "that the perpetrators will be identified and prosecuted," he said in a statement on social media.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
A fan opens a Trump banner as fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv stage a pro-Israel demonstration at the Dam Square,
Getty
Fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv stage a pro-Israel demonstration at the Dam Square, lighting up flares and chanting slogans
Getty
President Isaac Herzog was among senior Israeli politicians who said the violence recalled the attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen last year as well as the anti-Semitic attacks on European Jews in the pogroms of previous centuries.
He wrote on social media: "We see with horror this morning, the shocking images and videos that since October 7, we had hoped never to see again: an anti-Semitic pogrom currently taking place against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and Israeli citizens in the heart of Amsterdam."
Hard right politician Geert Wilders, the leader of the largest party in the Dutch government, condemned the reported Amsterdam attacks in a post on social media. He said: "Ashamed that this can happen in The Netherlands. Totally unacceptable."
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has asked the Dutch government to help Israeli citizens arrive safely at the airport, Saar told his Dutch counterpart Caspar Veldkamp in a phone call.
Israeli football supporters and Dutch youth clash near Amsterdam Central station
Reuters
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip
Reuters
Amsterdam's mayor Femke Halsema said her services were still in the process of ascertaining the full extent of the violence that targeted fans, saying: "Despite the massive police deployment in the city, Israeli supporters were injured."
Tensions have been running after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Health authorities in the enclave say more than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed in more than a year of war in Gaza.
Israeli forces stepped up bombardment across the Gaza Strip this week and ordered more evacuations, creating a fresh wave of displacement from northern Gaza, to which Palestinians fear they will not be able to return.
Palestinian health officials said at least 10 people had been killed and several others wounded in an Israeli air strike on a school housing displaced families in Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. The Israeli military said the strike targeted a Hamas command centre embedded inside the compound that previously served as a UN-run school.
It accused Hamas of exploiting civilian facilities for military purposes, which the group denies.
