Yarmouk Stadium

Yarmouk Stadium was an association football stadium in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Palestine. Yarmouk Stadium is one of the oldest Palestinian stadiums. It was opened in 1952 under Egyptian rule and was restored under the direct supervision of the Municipality of Gaza. It is the home stadium of the Gaza Sports Club. The stadium seats 9,000 spectators.[1]

Yarmouk Stadium
LocationGaza City, Gaza Strip, Palestine
Capacity9,000 (all seated)
Opened1952
Tenants
Gaza Sports Club

Destruction of the stadium

During the Israel–Hamas war, hundreds of Palestinians went to Yarmouk Stadium to find safety from Israeli bombing. On 24 December 2023, the Israeli army took control of the stadium.[2] Dozens of men, women, and children, with eyes covered, some stripped down to their underwear.[3]

According to the non-profit Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, the Israeli army detained hundreds of Palestinians from the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, including dozens of women who have been taken to Yarmouk Stadium. According to the human rights organization "Palestinian males, including children as young as 10 years old and elderly people over the age of 70, were forced to take off all of their clothes except their underwear and line up in a humiliating manner in front of the women detained in the same stadium".[4]

On 27 December 2023, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) sent letters to the International Olympic Committee and FIFA asking for an "urgent international probe into occupation crimes against sports and athletes in Palestine".[3]

American academic and former professional soccer player Jules Boykoff described the double standards as "glaring" and questioned the IOC's treatment of Israel compared to Russia (which was sanctioned) stating, "If taking over sports facilities are a red line, why silence as Israel converts Gaza’s historic Yarmouk Stadium into an internment camp?"[5]

References
  1. "World Stadiums - Stadiums in Palestine". Archived from the original on 2017-09-15. Retrieved 2013-04-26.
  2. "Beatings, theft and murder: The day the Israeli army came to Gaza's Yarmouk Stadium". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
  3. Zidan, Karim (18 January 2024). "The case for sports sanctions against Israel". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  4. "Video appears to show at least two children stripped and detained by IDF in Gaza stadium among Palestinian men". CNN.
  5. Zirin, Dave (10 January 2024). "Will the IOC Do Anything About the Killing of Palestinian Athletes?". The Nation.

31°30′55.1″N 34°27′20.7″E


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