Israel to send planes to Amsterdam after soccer violence

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered two rescue planes be sent to the Netherlands after violence targeting Israeli football fans broke out in Amsterdam overnight.

Videos circulating on social media showed street clashes overnight and riot police intervening.

The order to send planes was taken after "a very violent incident" targeting Israeli citizens following the game between Ajax Amsterdam, traditionally identified as a Jewish club, and Maccabi Tel Aviv, his office said.

An eyewitness captured a video verified by Reuters showing a group of men running near Amsterdam central station, chasing and assaulting other men, as police sirens sounded.

Amsterdam's mayor Femke Halsema said her services were still in the process of ascertaining the full extent of the violence.

"Despite the massive police deployment in the city, Israeli supporters were injured," Ms Halsema said in an Instagram post, adding that the exact figure of victims and people arrested was not yet clear.

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 Mr Netanyahu he assured him "that the perpetrators will be identified and prosecuted," he said in a statement on X.

Local police said 57 suspects had been detained after the game as pro-Palestinian demonstrators tried to reach the Johan Cruyff stadium, even though the city had forbidden a protest there.

Police said fans had left the stadium without incident, but clashes erupted overnight in the city centre.

Israeli media and politicians reacted with shock to the violence, calling it some of the most serious seen since the start of the Gaza war more than a year ago.

The largest-selling newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted Israeli fans who said the attacks appeared to be planned.

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.

"We see with horror this morning, the shocking images and videos that since October 7th, 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," he wrote in a message on the social media platform X.

The Israeli military said it is preparing to immediately deploy a rescue mission with the coordination of the Dutch government after the football game, in which Ajax defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 5-0.

"The mission will be deployed using cargo aircraft and include medical and rescue teams," the IDF said.

Tensions have been running high in the Middle East and abroad since the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking more than 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

At least 43,469 Palestinians have been killed and 102,561 others injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza in response to the Hamas attack, according to health officials in the enclave.

The Gaza war has sparked protests in support of both sides across Europe and the United States and Arabs and Jews have been attacked.

Anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders, the leader of the largest party in the Dutch government, condemned the reported Amsterdam attacks in a post on X.

"Ashamed that this can happen in The Netherlands. Totally unacceptable," he said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has asked the Dutch government to help Israeli citizens arrive safely at the airport, he told his Dutch counterpart Caspar Veldkamp in a phone call this morning.