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The main story today was the attacks on Israeli football fans in Amsterdam. You can read our full report here:
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Updated
Amsterdam police have made more than 60 arrests following violence in the Dutch capital overnight after a Europa League football match, as planes sent by Israel’s government flew in on Friday afternoon to take home fans of the losing Israeli team.
The mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, described an “outburst” of antisemitism with “hit and run” attacks on visiting supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv.
“Men on scooters crisscrossed the city looking for Israeli football fans. It was a hit and run. I can easily understand that this brings back memories of pogroms,” Halsema said…
Here’s a video report on the violence in Amsterdam overnight.
IDF says it is planning to reopen the Kissufim crossing into central Gaza
The Israeli military says it was planning to reopen the Kissufim crossing into central Gaza to increase the flow of aid into the southern end of the Gaza Strip.
The decision has been made after intensifying pressure from the international community to move more aid into Gaza. Risk of starvation and disease is growing in the north of the enclave where the IDF has been fighting for over a month.
Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote to Israeli officials demanding concrete measures to address the worsening situation in the Palestinian enclave. One of the demands was for the opening of a fifth crossing into Gaza.
Updated
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof says the attacks on Israeli football fans in Amsterdam are a sign of “increasing antisemitism” in the Netherlands.
“I feel ashamed about what happened in the Netherlands,” Schoof tells reporters on at a European Union leaders’ summit in Budapest. “It has been a dreadful night.”
Schoof says he will leave the summit early to return to Amsterdam, adding that he hopes Israeli people will still feel safe in the Netherlands.
The day so far
Here is a summary of key developments so far today:
Police in Amsterdam on Friday said five people had been taken to hospital and 62 arrests had been made as a result of clashes that erupted in the Dutch capital overnight after a Europa League football match between home team Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. “In several places in the city, supporters were attacked, abused and pelted with fireworks. Riot police had to intervene several times, protect Israeli supporters and escort them to hotels,” said Amsterdam officials.
The clashes had begun on Wednesday, 24 hours before the match. Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla said there had been “incidents on both sides” on Wednesday night. He added: “Maccabi supporters removed a flag from a facade on the Rokin and they destroyed a taxi. A Palestinian flag was set on fire on the Dam.”
Despite a “sporting” atmosphere in the ground and a huge police presence, authorities were unable to stop the rapid attacks on football fans in several locations in Amsterdam, said police. Holla said the hit-and-run tactics of the rioters made it “exceptionally” difficult to prevent the attacks. He added that 800 officers had been deployed, a very large number for Amsterdam, adding: “We spent weeks preparing” for the match.
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, condemned on Friday what he described as a “premeditated antisemitic attack” on Israeli football fans in Amsterdam during a call with his Dutch counterpart Dick Schoof. The Dutch prime minister denounced the “completely unacceptable antisemitic attacks on Israelis”. Schoof said he had spoken with Netanyahu to assure him that “the perpetrators will be tracked down and prosecuted”.
Netanyahu ordered two planes be sent to the Netherlands to bring the Israeli fans home. The first plane took off from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv heading for Amsterdam on Friday. Israeli military said on Friday that all Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel had been banned from going to the Netherlands until further notice. Israeli president, Isaac Herzog condemned the clashes, saying the “shocking images” of violence were reminiscent of the Hamas attack on 7 October last year.
Israel’s foreign ministry said on Friday it had located all Israeli citizens who were unaccounted for after clashes broke out after a football match in Amsterdam last night. It came after reports that several Israelis were missing. Israel’s new foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said in a statement that he had requested the Dutch government’s assistance in ensuring Israeli citizens’ safe exit from their hotels to the airport.
The mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, on Friday announced tightened security measures in the city, including a temporary ban on demonstrations, stepped-up police deployments, and extra protection for key institutions.
Halsema said: “What happened last night is not a protest. It has nothing to do with protest or demonstration,” in response to questions about the context of last night’s violence. Halsema said what happened in Amsterdam was a crime and there was “no excuse” for the trouble. She added that the clashes overnight were a terrible moment for her city: “It’s against everything we’re proud of in Amsterdam. I’m very ashamed of the behaviour that was shown last night. This is nothing like Amsterdam.”
The UN called the violence “very troubling” while Germany foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said it was “terrible” and “deeply shameful”. European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on Friday condemned attacks on fans of Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv and said she had discussed the matter with Schoof. Uefa and Ajax also released statements strongly condemning the violence.
Unverified video on social media purportedly filmed on Thursday appeared to show some Maccabi Tel Aviv fans chanting in Hebrew: “Finish the Arabs! We’re going to win!” Another video on social media showed crowds running through the streets and a man being beaten, reported Reuters.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday that he hoped the US president-elect, Donald Trump, will tell Israel to “stop” its war efforts, suggesting a good start would be halting US arms support to Israel. “Trump has made promises to end conflicts … We want that promise to be fulfilled and for Israel to be told to ‘stop’,” Erdoğantold reporters on a return flight from Budapest, according to an official readout.
The UN human rights office said on Friday nearly 70% of the fatalities it has verified in the Gaza war were women and children, and condemned what it called a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law. The UN count covers the first seven months of the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip that began more than a year ago. Israel did not immediately comment on the report’s findings, according to Reuters.
Lebanon state media said the Israeli army on Friday detonated explosives planted inside houses in three border villages that have been battered by the Israel-Hezbollah war. “Since this morning, the Israeli enemy’s army has been carrying out bombing operations inside the villages of Yaroun, Aitaroun and Maroun al-Ras in the Bint Jbeil area, with the aim of destroying residential homes there,” the official National News Agency said.
An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has warned against launching an “instinctive” response to Israeli airstrikes on the Islamic republic last month.“Israel aims to bring the conflict to Iran. We must act wisely to avoid its trap and not react instinctively,” the adviser, Ali Larijani, told state television late on Thursday.
Yemen’s Houthis targeted Israel’s southern Nevatim airbase with a hypersonic ballistic rocket called “Palestine 2”. The group also downed a US MQ-9 Reaper in the airspace of the Yemeni province of al-Jawf early on Friday, the Houthis’ military spokesperson, Yahya Sarea, said.
People in Gaza have been pushed “beyond breaking point” with families, widows and children enduring “almost unparalleled suffering”, according to the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Jan Egeland visited Gaza this week and found “scene after scene of absolute despair”, with families torn apart and unable to bury relatives who had died. He said that Israel, with western-supplied arms, had “rendered the densely populated area uninhabitable”.
Hezbollah said it targeted a naval base near the Israeli city of Haifa with missiles on Friday, the second such attack in less than 24 hours. The group said it targeted the Stella Maris naval base, north west of Haifa, with a missile barrage, “in response to the attacks and massacres committed by the Israeli enemy”. In a separate statement, the group claimed on Thursday that it had also targeted the Ramat David airbase, south east of Haifa, with missiles.
At least 43,508 Palestinians have been killed and 102,684 have been injured by the Israeli offensive in Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said on Friday. The toll includes 39 deaths in the previous 24 hours, it said. The ministry does not distinguish between civilian and non-civilian deaths.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards killed four more militants during an operation in the country’s south-east region where jihadists killed 10 police last month, state media said on Friday. The deaths were part of an “ongoing operation” in Sistan-Balochistan province, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Gen Ahmad Shafaei said, adding that a soldier was also killed, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Human rights organisations say they are gravely concerned that a young Iranian woman arrested for stripping down to her underwear could be subjected to torture after she was transferred to a psychiatric hospital by the authorities. Amnesty International said it had found evidence that the Iranian regime used electric shocks, torture, beatings and chemical substances on protesters and political prisoners taken to state-run psychiatric institutions after being called mentally unstable. It said the situation facing the young woman was “alarming”.
Updated
Despite a “sporting” atmosphere in the ground and a huge police presence, authorities were unable to stop the rapid attacks on football fans in several locations in Amsterdam, reports AFP.
Officers made 62 arrests in total but Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla said the hit-and-run tactics of the rioters made it “exceptionally” difficult to prevent the attacks.
He said that 800 officers had been deployed, a very large number for Amsterdam, adding: “We spent weeks preparing” for the match.
The mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, on Friday announced tightened security measures in the city, including a temporary ban on demonstrations, stepped-up police deployments, and extra protection for key institutions.
Tensions were already running high, with “incidents on both sides” on Wednesday, 24 hours before the match, according to Holla.
The US state department’s spokesperson, Matthew Miller, has said the US would continue to pursue a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon until the end of President Joe Biden’s term.
Miller said:
We will continue to pursue an end to the war in Gaza, an end to the war in Lebanon, a surge of humanitarian assistance [to Gaza], and that is our duty to pursue those policies right up until noon on 20 January when the president-elect takes office.”
'Incidents on both sides' 24 hours before match, Amsterdam police say
The mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, has announced tighter security measures including a temporary ban on protests, reports AFP.
Amsterdam officials said earlier that “riot police had to intervene several times, protect Israeli supporters and escort them to hotels” during violent clashes after a football game between home team Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The clashes had begun on Wednesday, 24 hours before the match. According to AFP, police spokesperson Peter Holla said there had been “incidents on both sides” on Wednesday night.
He added:
Maccabi supporters removed a flag from a facade on the Rokin and they destroyed a taxi. A Palestinian flag was set on fire on the Dam.”
Updated
Houthis say they targeted Israeli air base with hypersonic ballistic rocket
Yemen’s Houthis targeted Israel’s southern Nevatim airbase with a hypersonic ballistic rocket called “Palestine 2”, reports Reuters
The group also downed a US MQ-9 Reaper in the airspace of the Yemeni province of al-Jawf early on Friday, the Houthis’ military spokesperson, Yahya Sarea, said on Friday.
Israel’s foreign ministry said on Friday it had located all Israeli citizens who were unaccounted for after clashes broke out after a football match in Amsterdam last night, reports AFP.
“All the Israelis who were out of contact in Amsterdam have been located,” the ministry said in a statement, after reports that several Israelis were missing since the violence erupted overnight.
At least 43,508 Palestinians killed in Israeli offensive since 7 Oct 2023, says health ministry
At least 43,508 Palestinians have been killed and 102,684 have been injured by the Israeli offensive in Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said on Friday. The toll includes 39 deaths in the previous 24 hours, it said.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilian and non-civilian deaths.
Updated
Ajax, who played Maccabi Tel Aviv last night in the Europa League, have released a brief statement condemning the violence in Amsterdam:
After a sporting football match with a good atmosphere in our stadium – for which we thank all parties involved for the good cooperation – we were horrified to learn what happened in the centre of Amsterdam last night.
We strongly condemn this violence.”
Updated
The Times of Israel reports that all Israelis in Amsterdam have now been reached.
Updated
Halsema says, “what happened last night is not a protest. It has nothing to do with protest or demonstration,” in response to questions about the context of last night’s violence.
Halsema says what happened was a crime and there is “no excuse” for the trouble last night.
Updated
The mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, says the clashes overnight were a terrible moment for her city.
“It’s against everything we’re proud of in Amsterdam. I’m very ashamed of the behaviour that was shown last night. This is nothing like Amsterdam,” she says.
Updated
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) said on Friday that a vessel was approached by a small craft on Thursday carrying armed personnel that came within three cables of the vessel. It labelled it a “suspicious approach”.
The incident was part of a larger sighting where the vessel observed nine to fifteen small craft in the area, approximately 53 nautical miles south west of Aden, Yemen, the agency said.
All crew members aboard the vessel were safe and the ship continued to its next port of call, it added.
UKMTO ADVISORY
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) November 8, 2024
INCIDENT 131 - SUSPICIOUS APPROACHhttps://t.co/9mpjFXGBzG#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/xN2f1Eg2Gx
Updated
62 arrested as result of football clashes in Amsterdam, say police
Amsterdam police made 62 arrests as a result of clashes that erupted in the Dutch capital overnight after a Europa League football match, reports AFP.
“In several places in the city, supporters were attacked, abused and pelted with fireworks. Riot police had to intervene several times, protect Israeli supporters and escort them to hotels,” said Amsterdam officials.
Social media platforms were flooded with unverified images purported to be of the violence, but confirmed details of the clashes were few, according to AFP.
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, ordered two planes be sent to the Netherlands to bring the Israeli fans home. The first plane took off from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv heading for Amsterdam on Friday.
The UN called the violence “very troubling” while Germany foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said it was “terrible” and “deeply shameful.”
Dutch media AT5 reported that numerous fights, as well as acts of vandalism, had occurred in the city centre. “A large number of mobile unit vehicles are present and reinforcements have also been called in,” it reported. “Young people also allegedly provoked the police”.
Unverified video on social media purportedly filmed on Thursday appeared to show some Maccabi Tel Aviv fans chanting in Hebrew: “Finish the Arabs! We’re going to win!”
According to AFP, the Israeli embassy in the US said “hundreds” of Maccabi fans were “ambushed and attacked in Amsterdam tonight as they left the stadium following a game”.
In another potential flashpoint linked to football, France are scheduled to face Israel in an international match at the Stade de France in Paris next Thursday. The French government said on Friday the match would go ahead as planned.
Updated
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards killed four more militants during an operation in the country’s south-east region where jihadists killed 10 police last month, state media said on Friday, according to AFP.
The deaths were part of an “ongoing operation” in Sistan-Balochistan province, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Gen Ahmad Shafaei said, adding that a soldier was also killed, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Iranian forces launched a crackdown after jihadists from the Pakistan-based Jaish al-Adl group killed 10 police officers on 26 October - one of the deadliest raids in the region in recent months.
“The operation in Sistan-Balochistan will continue until the terrorists and criminals are eliminated,” Shafaei said on Friday, reports AFP.
On Tuesday, the Guards said eight members of Jaish al-Adl had been killed during security operations there. Local media reported that the mastermind of the 26 October attack had already been killed.
People in Gaza are enduring ‘almost unparalleled suffering’, says aid group
People in Gaza have been pushed “beyond breaking point” with families, widows and children enduring “almost unparalleled suffering”, according to the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Jan Egeland visited Gaza this week and found “scene after scene of absolute despair”, with families torn apart and unable to bury relatives who had died. He said that Israel, with western-supplied arms, had “rendered the densely populated area uninhabitable”.
“This is in no way a lawful response, a targeted operation of ‘self-defence’ to dismantle armed groups, or warfare consistent with humanitarian law,” he said.
“The families, widows and children I have spoken to are enduring suffering almost unparalleled to anywhere in recent history,” he added. “There is no possible justification for continued war and destruction.”
Nearly two million people have been internally displaced in Gaza, according to the latest estimates from the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), and the population faces widespread shortages of food, water and medicine.
Families are still forced to move from one area to another. Areas designated by Israeli forces for evacuation and forcible relocation now cover 80% of Gaza. Palestinians are thus restricted to 20% of the strip and an Israeli brigadier general said this week that there was no intention of allowing people to return to their homes. Experts in humanitarian law have said that such actions amount to the war crime of forcible transfer.
In northern Gaza, a month-long renewed offensive and tightened siege has led to desperate conditions, with an estimated 100,000 people completely cut off from humanitarian aid.
The UN has condemned the “unlawful interference with humanitarian assistance and orders that are leading to forced displacement”.
Most aid remains blocked from leaving crossing points due to insecurity, active hostilities and widespread destruction. An average of 36 trucks a day crossed into Gaza in October, marking the lowest rate for a year.
Egeland, a humanitarian leader, former foreign minister and diplomat in Norway, said he witnessed “the catastrophic impact of strangled aid flows”; adding that people had gone for days without food and drinking water was nowhere to be found.
“There has not been a single week since the start of this war when sufficient aid was delivered in Gaza,” he said.
Uefa have released a statement on the attacks on football fans in Amsterdam last night:
Uefa strongly condemns the incidents and acts of violence that occurred last night in the city of Amsterdam before and after the Uefa Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
We trust that the relevant authorities will identify and charge as many of those responsible for such actions as possible. Uefa will examine all official reports, gather available evidence, assess them and evaluate any further appropriate course of action in accordance with its relevant regulatory framework.”
Israel plane to collect fans after Amsterdam football clashes
An Israeli plane on a mission to bring home football fans from Amsterdam after clashes in the Dutch city took off from Ben Gurion airport on Friday, the Israel Airports Authority said, according to AFP.
The plane, the first of two, would collect fans after the clashes that followed a Europa League match between Dutch club Ajax and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv, authority spokesperson Liza Dvir told AFP.
Israeli transport minister, Miri Regev’s office said in a statement she had spoken to her Dutch counterpart about “the aerial rescue operation of Israeli citizens from Amsterdam”.
Regev asked Dutch transport minister, Barry Madlener, to give the planes permission to use Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport to “rescue the Israelis”. Regev also requested “safe transportation” for the evacuated Israelis from hotels to the airport.
The statement said the Dutch minister “expressed his sorrow for this ugly case” and that his government was working to ensure the safety of Israeli passengers, reports AFP.
Lebanon state media said the Israeli army on Friday detonated explosives planted inside houses in three border villages that have been battered by the Israel-Hezbollah war, reports AFP.
“Since this morning, the Israeli enemy’s army has been carrying out bombing operations inside the villages of Yaroun, Aitaroun and Maroun al-Ras in the Bint Jbeil area, with the aim of destroying residential homes there,” the official National News Agency said.
Five people injured after football fan attacks, say Amsterdam police
Police in Amsterdam on Friday said five people had been taken to hospital with injuries after riots erupted in the city centre after an Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv football game.
According to Reuters, police said they were also investigating reports of a possible hostage situation and of missing persons after the attacks on fans of the Israeli team, but could not give any confirmation.
Updated
European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on Friday condemned the attacks on fans of Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam.
“Outraged by last night’s vile attacks targeting Israeli citizens in Amsterdam,” von der Leyen said in a post on X, adding she had discussed the matter with Dutch prime minister, Dick Schoof.
Von der Leyen added:
I strongly condemn these unacceptable acts. Antisemitism has absolutely no place in Europe. And we are determined to fight all forms of hatred.”
Outraged by last night’s vile attacks targeting Israeli citizens in Amsterdam.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) November 8, 2024
I just spoke with @MinPres Schoof.
I strongly condemn these unacceptable acts.
Antisemitism has absolutely no place in Europe. And we are determined to fight all forms of hatred.
Turkey’s Erdoğan hopes Trump will tell Israel to 'stop' war
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday that he hoped the US president-elect, Donald Trump, will tell Israel to “stop” its war efforts, suggesting a good start would be halting US arms support to Israel, reports Reuters.
“Trump has made promises to end conflicts … We want that promise to be fulfilled and for Israel to be told to ‘stop’,” Erdoğan told reporters on a return flight from Budapest, according to an official readout.
“Mr Trump cutting off the arms support provided to Israel could be a good start in order to stop the Israeli aggression in Palestinian and Lebanese lands,” he was cited as saying.
Turkey has fiercely criticised Israel’s offensives in the Palestinian territory of Gaza and in Lebanon, and has halted trade with Israel as well as applied to join a genocide case against Israel at the international court of justice. Israel strongly denies the genocide accusations.
Trump’s presidency will seriously affect political and military balances in the Middle East region, Erdoğan said, adding that pursuing current US policies would deepen deadlock in the region and spread the conflict.
Updated
Israeli military says all service personnel banned from going to Netherlands until further notice
Reuters reports that the Israeli military said on Friday that all Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel have been banned from going to the Netherlands until further notice.
Human rights organisations say they are gravely concerned that a young Iranian woman arrested for stripping down to her underwear could be subjected to torture after she was transferred to a psychiatric hospital by the authorities.
Amnesty International said it had found evidence that the Iranian regime used electric shocks, torture, beatings and chemical substances on protesters and political prisoners taken to state-run psychiatric institutions after being called mentally unstable. It said the situation facing the young woman was “alarming”.
Video of the young woman, who has not been formally identified, walking around a university campus in Tehran in her underwear was widely circulated on social media last week before she was seen being arrested by police officers. She is believed to have been protesting at being physically assaulted by campus security guards at the Islamic Azad University in Tehran for failing to comply with the strict dress code imposed on all Iranian women.
The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) called the student’s transfer to an undisclosed psychiatric facility a “kidnapping”, saying the use of forced transfer of anti-regime protesters to mental health facilities was being increasingly used to silence dissent.
“Iranian authorities systematically use involuntary psychiatric hospitalisation as a tool to suppress dissent, branding protesters as mentally unstable to undermine their credibility,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of CHRI.
“Transferring individuals who participate in peaceful protests to psychiatric hospitals represents not only an act of arbitrary detention but also constitutes a form of kidnapping. This practice is a blatantly unlawful move to discredit activists by labelling them mentally unstable.”
Nearly 70% of Gaza war dead women and children, UN rights office says
The UN human rights office said on Friday nearly 70% of the fatalities it has verified in the Gaza war were women and children, and condemned what it called a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.
The UN count covers the first seven months of the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip that began more than a year ago.
The 8,119 victims verified by the UN rights office in that seven-month period is considerably lower than the toll of more than 43,000 provided by Palestinian health authorities for the full 13 months of conflict, reports Reuters. But the UN breakdown of the victims’ age and gender backs the Palestinian assertion that women and children represent a large portion of those killed in the war.
This finding indicates “a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including distinction and proportionality,” the UN rights office said in a statement accompanying the 32-page report.
The youngest victim whose death was verified by UN monitors was a one-day-old boy, and the oldest was a 97-year-old woman, the report said.
Overall, children represented 44% of the victims, with children aged five-nine representing the single biggest age category, followed by those aged 10-14, and then those aged up to and including four.
According to Reuters, this broadly reflects the territory’s demographics, which the report said reflected an apparent failure to take precautions to avoid civilian losses.
It showed that in 88% of cases, five or more people were killed in the same attack, pointing to the Israeli military’s use of weapons with an effect across a wide area, although it said some fatalities may have been the result of errant projectiles from Palestinian armed groups.
UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk said:
It is essential that there is due reckoning with respect to the allegations of serious violations of international law through credible and impartial judicial bodies and that, in the meantime, all relevant information and evidence are collected and preserved.”
Israel did not immediately comment on the report’s findings, according to Reuters.
Israel’s military has said approximately one civilian in Gaza has been killed for every fighter, a ratio it blames on Hamas, saying the Palestinian militant group uses civilian facilities. Hamas has denied using civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, as human shields.
Khamenei aide warns against impulsive Iran response to Israel attack
An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has warned against launching an “instinctive” response to Israeli airstrikes on the Islamic republic last month, reports AFP.
Israeli warplanes struck military sites in Iran on 26 October in retaliation for a large Iranian missile attack on Israel at the start of the month.
“Israel aims to bring the conflict to Iran. We must act wisely to avoid its trap and not react instinctively,” the adviser, Ali Larijani, told state television late on Thursday, according to AFP.
Iran said it fired 200 missiles at Israel on 1 October in response to the killing of Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in a strike on Beirut and Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, while he was in Tehran. After Israel hit back, it warned Iran against any counterattack, but the Iran has vowed to respond.
“Our actions and reactions are strategically defined, so we must avoid instinctive or emotional responses and remain entirely rational,” Larijani added.
The former parliament speaker also praised Nasrallah for accepting a ceasefire during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war rather than making an “emotional decision”.
On Sunday, Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said a potential ceasefire between Tehran’s allies and Israel could affect Iran’s response to the Israeli strikes.
Israel's president condemns clashes in Amsterdam
Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, on Friday condemned clashes in Amsterdam after a Europa League football match, saying the “shocking images” of violence were reminiscent of the Hamas attack on 7 October last year, reports AFP.
“We see with horror this morning, the shocking images and videos that since October 7th, we had hoped never to see again: an antisemitic pogrom currently taking place against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and Israeli citizens in the heart of Amsterdam, Netherlands,” Herzog said in a statement on X.
We see with horror this morning, the shocking images and videos that since October 7th, we had hoped never to see again: an antisemitic pogrom currently taking place against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and Israeli citizens in the heart of Amsterdam, Netherlands.
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) November 8, 2024
This is a serious…
He added:
This is a serious incident, a warning sign for any country that wishes to uphold the values of freedom. I give my full support to the cooperation now taking place between the governments, and trust that the authorities in the Netherlands will act immediately and take all necessary measures to protect, locate, and rescue all Israelis and Jews under attack, and to eradicate the violence against Jewish and Israeli citizens by all required means.”
Updated
Hezbollah claims second attack on Israel naval base in 24 hours
Hezbollah said it targeted a naval base near the Israeli city of Haifa with missiles on Friday, the second such attack in less than 24 hours.
AFP reports that the Iran-backed Lebanese group said it targeted the Stella Maris naval base, north west of Haifa, with a missile barrage, “in response to the attacks and massacres committed by the Israeli enemy”.
The group had on Thursday claimed another attack on the same area. In a separate statement, the group claimed that it had also targeted the Ramat David airbase, south east of Haifa, with missiles.
Amsterdam’s mayor, Femke Halsema, said on Friday her services were still in the process of ascertaining the full extent of the violence that targeted Israeli soccer fans surrounding an Ajax – Maccabi Tel Aviv Europe League game, reports Reuters.
“Despite the massive police deployment in the city, Israeli supporters were injured,” Halsema said in an Instagram post, adding that the exact figure of victims and people arrested was not yet clear.
Israeli authorities urged their citizens in Amsterdam to stay in their hotels and avoid showing Israeli or Jewish symbols if they do go outside, reports AFP.
The army said it was coordinating a “rescue mission” with cargo aircraft and medical and rescue teams.
Israel’s new foreign minister Gideon Saar said in a statement that he had requested the Dutch government’s assistance in ensuring Israeli citizens’ safe exit from their hotels to the airport. According to AFP, images on Dutch media AT5 showed police escorting fans back to their hotels.
On Thursday, Amsterdam police said on social media that they were being particularly vigilant as a result of several incidents, including the tearing down of a Palestinian flag from a building.
A pro-Palestinian rally demonstrating against the Israeli football club’s visit was initially scheduled to take place near the stadium but was relocated by the Amsterdam city council for security reasons, reports AFP.
Netanyahu condemns 'premeditated antisemitic attack' on Israeli football fans in Amsterdam
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, condemned on Friday what he described as a premeditated attack on Israeli football fans in Amsterdam during a call with his Dutch counterpart Dick Schoof, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Prime minister Netanyahu stated that he views the premeditated antisemitic attack against Israeli citizens with utmost seriousness and requested increased security for the Jewish community in the Netherlands,” his office said.
AFP reports that clashes erupted after a Europa League football match in Amsterdam overnight, with Israel sending rescue planes for their citizens. The violence flared after the game between Maccabi Tel Aviv and home team Ajax, which won 5-0.
The Dutch prime minister denounced the “completely unacceptable antisemitic attacks on Israelis”.
“I followed with horror the coverage from Amsterdam,” Schoof wrote on X, adding that he had spoken with his Israeli counterpart, Netanyahu, to assure him that “the perpetrators will be tracked down and prosecuted”.
Have been following the news from Amsterdam and am horrified by the antisemitic attacks on Israeli citizens. This is completely unacceptable. I am in close contact with all parties involved and have just spoken to @IsraeliPM Netanyahu by phone to stress that the perpetrators will…
— Dick Schoof (@MinPres) November 8, 2024
According to AFP, Dutch media AT5 said the clashes occurred around midnight. Social media platforms were flooded with unverified images purported to be of the violence, but confirmed details of the clashes were few.
AT5 said that numerous fights, as well as acts of vandalism, had occurred in the city centre. “A large number of mobile unit vehicles are present and reinforcements have also been called in,” it said.
The Israeli embassy in the US said “hundreds” of Maccabi fans were “ambushed and attacked in Amsterdam tonight as they left the stadium following a game”.
In its post on social media platform X, the embassy blamed the incident on a “mob who targeted innocent Israelis”.
A Dutch police spokesperson told ANP news agency that 57 people had been arrested.
Updated
Opening summary
Hezbollah said it targeted a naval base near the Israeli city of Haifa with missiles, the second such attack in less than 24 hours.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the group said it targeted the Stella Maris naval base, north west of Haifa, with a missile barrage, “in response to the attacks and massacres committed by the Israeli enemy”.
Meanwhile, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has directed that two rescue planes be sent immediately to Amsterdam after “a very violent incident” targeting Israelis citizens, his office said on Friday, after attacks linked to a football game were reported.
Israel’s national security ministry has also urged its citizens in the Dutch city to stay in their hotel rooms after the attacks, the prime minister’s office said in a second statement.
“Fans who went to see a football game, encountered antisemitism and were attacked with unimaginable cruelty just because of their Jewishness and Israeliness,” Israeli security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said in a post on X.
Video on social media showed crowds running through the streets and a man being beaten, reports Reuters.
The Dutch ministry of foreign affairs had no immediate comment on the statements by the Israeli government, according to the news agency.
More on that story in a moment. In other developments:
The US state department’s spokesperson, Matthew Miller, has said the US would continue to pursue a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon until the end of President Biden’s term. Miller said: “We will continue to pursue an end to the war in Gaza, an end to the war in Lebanon, a surge of humanitarian assistance [to Gaza], and that is our duty to pursue those policies right up until noon on 20 January when the president-elect takes office.”
People in Gaza have been pushed “beyond breaking point” with families, widows and children enduring “almost unparalleled suffering”, according to the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Jan Egeland visited Gaza this week and found “scene after scene of absolute despair”, with families torn apart and unable to bury relatives who had died.
Israel’s ousted defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has reportedly said the army has achieved all its objectives in Gaza and that Netanyahu rejected a hostages-for-peace deal against the advice of his own security establishment. Gallant was speaking to hostages’ families on Thursday, two days after being sacked by Netanyahu, and reports of his remarks quickly surfaced in Israeli media.
Donald Trump will as president give Netanyahu a “blank check” in the Middle East, possibly opening the way for all-out war between Israel and Iran, the former CIA director and US defense secretary Leon Panetta predicted. “With regards to the Middle East, I think he’s basically going to give Netanyahu a blank check,” Panetta said of Trump, who won the presidential election this week and will take office again in January.
Footage recorded from a UN vehicle has shown the scale of destruction in northern Gaza. The video, filmed during a UN drive-through on Wednesday, shows roads completely torn up and buildings reduced to rubble.
Human rights organisations say they are gravely concerned that a young Iranian woman arrested for stripping down to her underwear could be subjected to torture after she was transferred to a psychiatric hospital by the authorities. Amnesty International said the situation facing the young woman was “alarming”.
Updated
