TEL AVIV: The first flight carrying Israelis evacuated from Amsterdam after violent clashes following a football match there landed on Friday at Ben Gurion International Airport, the Israel Airports Authority said.
“The plane that arrived in Tel Aviv now has passengers evacuated from Amsterdam,” said Liza Dvir, spokeswoman for the airport authority.
National Israeli airline El Al announced on Friday that three planes would bring Israelis home after the unrest that followed a Europa League match between Dutch club Ajax and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv.
In a Facebook post, El Al specified that the three flights would carry “hundreds of Israeli passengers” free of charge and land between Friday evening and early Saturday.
El Al Chairman Amikam Ben Zvi said paramedics and other medical personnel would be on board what he described as “rescue flights,” referring to the three flights.
The airline said two other Amsterdam flights scheduled before the match took place would also bring back Israelis.
The flight that landed on Friday appeared to be one of those two.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said early Friday afternoon that all Israelis in Amsterdam who had been unreachable were located.
“All the Israelis who were wounded and evacuated to the hospital were released,” it added in a statement, attributing the information to Amsterdam police.
Amsterdam’s mayor said the city had been “deeply damaged” by “hateful anti-Semitic rioters.”
“I can easily understand that this brings back memories of pogroms,” Femke Halsema said, adding that she was “ashamed” by the violence.
“Our city has been deeply damaged. This is an outburst of anti-Semitism that I hope to never see again,” she added.
The mayor announced tighter security measures including a temporary ban on protests.
Amsterdam officials said earlier that “riot police had to intervene several times, protect Israeli supporters and escort them to hotels.”
Police strenuously denied they were unprepared for the violence, saying they had been making preparations for several weeks.