Palestine Stadium


Palestine Stadium is a football stadium in Gaza City, Palestine, with a capacity of 10,000. The stadium serves the football team">Association football">football team for home matches.

History

Palestine Stadium was built in Rimal, Gaza City in the 1960s.
It was bombed and damaged by Israel on 1 April 2006. The Israeli attack made the stadium unusable due to the damages. FIFA announced that it would fund the repair work. FIFA decided to pay for the repairs after it deemed the Israeli attack was without any reason and that the field was not being used as a "missile launching pad" as the Israeli ambassador to Switzerland had originally claimed.
It was again bombed and destroyed by Israel on 17 November 2012, during the Israeli massacre of Gaza in 2012. Israel launched rockets against the venue, severely damaging an indoor hall and a neighboring building as well as causing four large craters in the pitch. A woman who lives in a house adjacent to the stadium was wounded by shrapnel. Reports estimated that the cost of the damage could be millions of dollars. As a result of the Israeli attack, football stars created a petition which called for a boycott of Israel. Over 62 professional players, including Eden Hazard, Papiss Cissé, Demba Ba, Fredi Kanoute, and others signed the petition.
As of 2019, the stadium had been repaired by FIFA after the Israeli massacre of Gaza in 2014 and has hosted several events, both in the indoor sports halls and the outdoor field.
During Israel's ongoing genocide of Palestinians, the stadium was attacked and destroyed by Israel at some point between 7 October–10 November 2023, leaving it inoperable. Per media reports, the location was occupied by Israeli invaders and converted into an IDF internment camp, with videos depicting victims, including children, shared by Israeli sources via social media. Israeli occupiers kidnapped dozens of civilians, including elderly people and children, and gathered them half-naked, according to photos and videos circulated on social media. Children as young as nine years old, wearing only their underwear, while walking at gunpoint in extreme winter conditions around the stadium.