JABAR EKSPRES – Israeli troops reportedly fired tear gas into the Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium in al-Ram, a city in East Jerusalem, Thursday, March 31, 2023. Until now, FIFA still does not comment anything about Israel ‘s violent actions in football matches.
A number of players and spectators choked on tear gas in the final match of the Palestine League Cup. Football Palestine reported that the first half went smoothly.
About 200 people traveled from the northern city of Nablus to Jerusalem to defend Balata’s Markaz team, taking on Jabal Al-Mukaber from Jerusalem who was recently crowned the 2022/2023 Palestinian League Champions.
The total attendance at the stadium is not more than 2,000 people or about 25 percent of the stadium’s capacity. At around 10pm local time, two Israeli armored vehicles entered the stadium.
Soldiers got out of the vehicle and began to viciously fire tear gas from behind the walls resulting in many people being injured.
According to a report from Football Palestine, this incident was a completely unprovoked attack and Israeli troops were not assigned to maintain order in or around the stadium. Incidentally, only a few people were injured.
However, had the stadium been nearly full, the attack could have resulted in the deaths of dozens of spectators.
This is not the first time that Israeli forces have targeted the Faisal Al-Husseini Stadium or the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) headquarters. However, this is the first time this incident has been caught on camera.
The attack during halftime delayed the start of the second half and viewers witnessed this horrific scene on their TV screens. Turkish Consul General for Palestine Ahmet Riza Demirer, and PFA President Jibril al-Rajoub were present at the stadium when the attack occurred.
Many spectators rushed onto the pitch to get some fresh air. Tear gas is made up of chemicals that can cause severe eye and respiratory pain, skin irritation, bleeding, and after prolonged exposure, blindness.
