Yarmouk Stadium was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

stadium in

Gaza City Gaza City, also called Gaza, is a city in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the capital of the Gaza Governorate. Located on the Mediterranean coast, southwest of Jerusalem, it was home to Port of Gaza, Palestine's only port. With a population of ...

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. Yarmouk Stadium was one of the oldest Palestinian stadiums, opened in 1952 under Egyptian administration and was restored under the direct supervision of the Municipality of Gaza. It is the home stadium of the Gaza Sports Club. The stadium seated 9,000 spectators.

Israeli invasion of Gaza

During the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, hundreds of Palestinians went to Yarmouk Stadium to find safety from Israeli bombing attacks. On 24 December 2023, during the Israeli invasion of Gaza, the IDF occupied the stadium, turning it into an

internment camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...

. Hundreds of Palestinians from the

Sheikh Radwan Sheikh Radwan () is a district of Gaza City located nearly northwest of the city center. It borders al-Shati camp to the southwest, Rimal to the south, and Jabalia to the east. The Sheikh Radwan Cemetery is located in the district. It contains h ...

neighborhood of Gaza City were kidnapped and taken to the stadium. The kidnapped, 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, with some victims also blindfolded. On 27 December 2023, the

Palestinian Football Association The Palestinian Football Association () is the governing body for football in Palestine, and for the men's Palestine national football team and the Palestine women's national football team. History Palestinian Jewish formation The Mandatory Pa ...

(PFA) sent letters to the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

(IOC) and

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

asking for an "urgent international probe into occupation crimes against sports and athletes in Palestine". 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?" On 8 January 2024, the Gaza Municipality announced that the IDF had demolished the stadium. By July 2024, the remains of the stadium had become a refugee camp, housing thousands of displaced Palestinians.

References

Athletics (track and field) venues in Palestine Buildings and structures in Gaza City Football venues in Palestine Sport in the Gaza Strip Gaza City in the Israel–Hamas war 1952 establishments in All-Palestine (Gaza) 2024 disestablishments in Palestine Buildings and structures destroyed during the Israel–Hamas war Buildings and structures completed in 1952 Buildings and structures demolished in 2024 Internment camps {{Palestine-sports-venue-stub