A list of mass killings in the United States this year

A list of mass killings in the United States this year
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Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey speaks to the media after a shooting at Apalachee High School on September 4, 2024 in Winder, Georgia. (Getty Images/AFP)
A list of mass killings in the United States this year
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Students wait to be picked up by their parents after a shooting at Apalachee High School on September 4, 2024 in Winder, Georgia. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Updated 05 September 2024
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A list of mass killings in the United States this year

A list of mass killings in the United States this year
  • At least 127 people have died this year in mass killings, which are defined as incidents in which four or more people die within a 24-hour period

The latest mass killing in the US happened Wednesday in Winder, Georgia, where four people were fatally shot at Apalachee High School, was the country’s 29th mass killing this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.

At least 127 people have died this year in those killings, which are defined as incidents in which four or more people die within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same definition used by the FBI.
Last year ended with 217 deaths from 42 mass killings in the US, making 2023 one of the deadliest years on record.

 

Here is a look at other US mass killings this year:
FOREST PARK, ILLINOIS: Sept. 2
Four people sleeping on a Chicago-area train were fatally shot on Labor Day morning. Police were called to a Chicago Transit Authority station just outside the city. A 30-year-old man was arrested. The victims were a woman and three men. A motive wasn’t immediately disclosed.
IRONDEQUOIT, N.Y.: Aug. 31
Four people were found dead after firefighters extinguished multiple blazes at a home in upstate New York, though authorities said they likely were killed by something else. Firefighters found the bodies of two adults, a 2-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl.
DALTON, GEORGIA: Aug. 24
Four males, ages 17 to 21, were shot to death at a park. A teenager was charged with murder in what police said was a robbery that turned violent. Multiple weapons were involved.
PLANT CITY, FLORIDA: July 31
Police said an intentional fire killed four people near Tampa. A 25-year-old man who lived in the house was charged with murder while engaged in arson. Three dogs also died.
NEW YORK CITY: July 19
A grandmother, a mother and her two children, ages 5 and 4, were fatally stabbed at an apartment in Brooklyn. A 24-year-old man who knew the four was arrested.
WEST BLOCTON, ALABAMA: July 18
A man was charged with killing his wife and four children, ages 2 to 9, in a rural community in Bibb County. The man didn’t say anything about a motive when taken into custody. “Even seasoned officers told me it is the worst thing they’ve ever seen,” Sheriff Jody Wade said.
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA: July 13
The victims were shot at a nightclub. One man died on a sidewalk while two women were killed inside the club. Another man was pronounced dead at a hospital. Investigators believed some shots were fired from outside the club.
ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA: July 10
Police arrested a man in the shootings of his wife, two children and his wife’s parents in the San Francisco Bay area. The man’s father-in-law went to a neighbor for help and spoke to police before he died.
FLORENCE, KENTUCKY: July 6
A birthday party turned deadly in the wee hours when four people were shot. The 21-year-old suspected gunman crashed his car in a ditch during a police chase and was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot.
NORTH LAS VEGAS, NEVADA: June 24
A 48-year-old man barred from possessing guns because of a criminal record killed himself after fatally shooting five people, police said. The violence began after the man had an argument with a former girlfriend. The victims at the apartment complex included a neighbor who tried to help and the neighbor’s mother and grandmother.
FORDYCE, ARKANSAS: June 21
A 44-year-old man shot people in the parking lot before shooting more inside the Mad Butcher grocery store, killing four. Police said he did not appear to have a connection to the victims. The shooting occurred in the middle of the day in Fordyce, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Little Rock.
HUDSON, FLORIDA: June 12
A landlord was accused of killing a family of four and burning their bodies. The two children were ages 6 and 5. The family was reported missing by relatives. Police say a backyard fire pit was smoldering when they searched the property in Pasco County.
MARION, IOWA: June 5
Police said a metal pipe was used to kill four people in an outbuilding of a rural home near Cedar Rapids.
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA: April 29
Four officers were shot in the deadliest attack on US law enforcement since 2016. They were killed when a task force of officers from different agencies tried to capture a 39-year-old man for illegally possessing a firearm and fleeing to elude in a different county.
YUKON, OKLAHOMA: April 22
A 10-year-old boy awoke to find his parents and three brothers dead in their home near Oklahoma City, all fatally shot by his father, police said. Authorities believe the 42-year-old man killed his wife and three sons — ages 18, 14 and 12 — then turned the gun on himself. Police said they did not immediately know why the fourth child was spared or have a motive for the shootings.
ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS: March 27
A frenzied stabbing and beating rampage left four people dead in a matter of minutes and at least seven people injured. Authorities said a 22-year-old man was charged. Police didn’t immediately know his motive. Rockford’s mayor said the victims were 63, 23, 49 and 15.
IRELAND, WEST VIRGINIA: March 11
The bodies of four people, ages 3 months to 90 years, were found inside the remains of a burning home. A fifth person with an apparent gunshot wound was discovered dead behind a chicken coop nearby, authorities said. A 45-year-old male suspect was found dead by suicide about 110 miles (180 kilometers) away, parked in a vehicle outside his relatives’ home. Authorities did not immediately share details about a motive.
HONOLULU, HAWAII: March 10
Authorities said a woman and three children ages 10, 12 and 17 were fatally stabbed in a Manoa home. The woman’s husband was also found dead. Police said a preliminary investigation shows the husband fatally stabbed his wife and children. Authorities did not immediately share a motive. Police said the five deaths mark the state’s worst mass killing since 1999. They said there was no history of domestic calls to the residence.
KING CITY, CALIFORNIA: March 3
Police said three men with dark masks got out of a silver Kia and opened fire at an outdoor party in central California, killing three men and a woman and wounding seven others. The shooting happened on a street with modest homes facing a commercial district in King City, close to Pinnacles National Park.
FERGUSON, MISSOURI: Feb. 19
Authorities said a 39-year-old woman intentionally set a fire at home to kill herself and her four children, ages 2, 5, 9 and 9. Investigators believe the mother set fire to a mattress, and left a note saying she intended to kill herself and her children, police said. Responding firefighters found the home engulfed in flames. Neighbors tried to save the family, but the fire was too intense.
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA: Feb. 16
Officials said four men were killed in a drive-by shooting. Dozens of shots were fired outside a Birmingham home, police said. People were standing outside a house as they got their cars washed when someone drove by and opened fire. No arrests were immediately reported.
HUNTINGTON PARK, CALIFORNIA: Feb. 11
Shootings over several hours left four people dead: a man in Bell, a man in a Los Angeles shopping center parking lot, a 14-year-old boy in Cudahy, and a homeless man in Huntington Park, authorities said. At least one other juvenile was wounded. Two suspected gang members were arrested in connection with the shootings, authorities said.
EAST LANSDOWNE, PENNSYLVANIA: Feb. 7
Six sets of human remains were recovered from the ashes of a fire that destroyed a home near Philadelphia, according to the county district attorney’s office. Authorities suspect those who died — including three children — were killed by a 43-year-old male relative who also died after shooting and wounding two police officers, the office said. A motive was not immediately identified.
EL MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA: Jan. 23
Authorities found the bodies of six men in the Mojave Desert outside the sparsely populated community of El Mirage after someone called 911 and said he had been shot, according to sheriff’s officials. The men were likely shot to death in a dispute over marijuana, authorities said. The bodies were found about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles in an area known for illegal cannabis operations. Five men were arrested and charged with murder.
JOLIET, ILLINOIS: Jan. 21
Authorities said a 23-year-old man shot eight people — including seven of his relatives — and injuring a ninth person in a Chicago suburb. He fatally shot himself later during a confrontation with law enforcement in Texas. Authorities believe he was trying to reach Mexico. Police said the victims included his mother, siblings, aunt, uncle and two men he might not have known. They were found in two homes, outside an apartment building and on a residential street.
TINLEY PARK, ILLINOIS: Jan. 21
A 63-year-old man in suburban Chicago killed his wife and three adult daughters a domestic-related shooting, police said. The man allegedly shot the four family members — ages 53, 24 and two 25-year-old twins — after an argument at their home. He was charged with four counts of first-degree murder.
RICHMOND, TEXAS: Jan. 13
A 46-year-old man fatally shot his estranged wife and three other relatives, including his 8-year-old niece, at a home in suburban Houston before killing himself, authorities said. Authorities said the man had told his estranged wife that he wanted to reunite but she refused. In addition to killing his niece and estranged wife, he also killed her brother and sister, ages 43 and 46.
REEDLEY, CALIFORNIA: Jan. 6
A 17-year-old boy was charged with killing four members of a neighboring family in central California. He lived next door to the victims — ages 81, 61, 44 and 43 — in Reedley, a small town near Fresno. Three bodies were found in their backyard, including one buried in a shallow grave, while another was found in the detached garage of the teenager’s home, police said.


Afghanistan says to attend UN climate talks, first since Taliban takeover

Afghanistan says to attend UN climate talks, first since Taliban takeover
Updated 9 sec ago
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Afghanistan says to attend UN climate talks, first since Taliban takeover

Afghanistan says to attend UN climate talks, first since Taliban takeover
  • “Climate change is a humanitarian subject,” deputy NEPA head Zainulabedin Abid told AFP in a recent interview. “We have called on the international community not to relate climate change matters with politics”

KABUL: An Afghan delegation will attend the upcoming UN climate change summit in Azerbaijan, the foreign ministry spokesman told AFP on Saturday, marking a first since the Taliban government came to power.
Afghanistan is ranked as the country sixth most vulnerable to climate change and Taliban authorities have pushed to participate in COP summits, saying their political isolation shouldn’t bar them from international climate talks.
Having tried and failed to attend UN climate change summits in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, this year an invitation from COP29 hosts Azerbaijan came through.
“A delegation of the Afghan government will be in Baku” for the summit, which opens on Monday in the Azerbaijani capital, said foreign ministry spokesman, Abdul Qahar Balkhi.
It was not immediately clear in what capacity the delegation would participate at COP29, but sources indicated it would have observer status.
No state has recognized the Taliban authorities since they swept to power in 2021, ousting the Western-backed administration.
Officials from the country’s National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) have repeatedly said climate change should not be politicized and called for environment-related projects put on hold due to the Taliban takeover to be reinstated.
“Climate change is a humanitarian subject,” deputy NEPA head Zainulabedin Abid told AFP in a recent interview.
“We have called on the international community not to relate climate change matters with politics.”
Azerbaijan will host the COP29 from November 11-22.
Baku reopened its embassy in Kabul in February this year, though it has not officially recognized the Taliban government.
NEPA had been invited to other environmental summits in the past but did not receive visas, the agency’s climate change director, Ruhollah Amin, told AFP in a recent interview.
The agency has received an invitation and is working on securing visas to attend the UN summit on desertification in Saudi Arabia, Amin added.
Afghanistan was a signatory to the 2015 landmark Paris Agreement, under which almost every country in the world agreed to slash emissions to limit soaring global temperatures.
NEPA was preparing its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) — expected to be updated and strengthened every five years — before the Taliban came to power.
NEPA has since been working to complete the NDC, despite uncertainty that it would be acknowledged by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat.
“In 2023, we decided that at least we have to finalize this document, even if the secretariat accepts this or not,” said Amin.
“But as a national issue... we have to complete this document.”
NEPA director-general Mawlawi Matiul Haq Khalis — a former Taliban negotiator and son of prominent jihadist figure Mawlawi Yunus Khalis — had criticized Afghanistan’s exclusion from last year’s COP in Dubai and urged other nations to facilitate the country’s participation in Baku, local media have reported.
He also called for Afghanistan to be compensated for damages caused by climate change.
Afghanistan’s total greenhouse gas emissions were only 0.08 percent as of a 2019 national report, according to Amin.
“It’s very little,” he said. Nevertheless, Afghanistan is one of “the most affected (countries) from the impact of climate change,” he added.
“It affects all aspects of our life.”
The United Nations has also called for action to help Afghanistan build resilience and for the country’s participation in international talks.
Among the poorest countries in the world after decades of war, Afghanistan is particularly exposed to the effects of climate change, which scientists say is spurring extreme weather.
Drought, floods, land degradation and declining agricultural productivity are key threats, the UN development agency’s representative in Afghanistan, Stephen Rodriques, said in 2023.
Flash floods in May killed hundreds and swamped swaths of agricultural land in Afghanistan, where 80 percent of people depend on farming to survive.

 


Attacks on Israeli soccer fans in the Netherlands prompts prime minister to cancel climate trip

Attacks on Israeli soccer fans in the Netherlands prompts prime minister to cancel climate trip
Updated 22 min 44 sec ago
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Attacks on Israeli soccer fans in the Netherlands prompts prime minister to cancel climate trip

Attacks on Israeli soccer fans in the Netherlands prompts prime minister to cancel climate trip
  • “Among them were over 170 witnesses and more than 230 victims, and forensic evidence has been collected from dozens of them,” the statement said, adding that they also had gathered videos of violent incidents in the Dutch capital

THE HAGUE, Netherlands: Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof on Saturday canceled a trip to United Nations climate talks in Azerbaijan so that he can stay in the Netherlands to deal with the fallout from assaults on fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team in Amsterdam that authorities condemned as antisemitic.
The government will discuss the Thursday night violence at a Cabinet meeting on Monday, Schoof posted on X, saying that he would hold talks on tackling antisemitism on Tuesday.
Police launched a large-scale investigation after gangs of youths conducted what Amsterdam’s mayor called “hit and run” attacks on fans that were apparently inspired by calls on social media to target Jewish people. Five people were treated at hospitals and more than 60 suspects were arrested.

Netherlands' Prime Minister Dick Schoof delivers a press statement at the end of an Informal Meeting of Heads of State or Government of the European Union in Budapest, Hungary, on November 8, 2024. (AFP)

Amsterdam prosecutors said that four of the suspects, including two minors, remained jailed Saturday and would be arraigned next week. The prosecutors said in a statement that they expect more arrests as investigators comb through video images of the violence.
None of the arrests made so far were for violence after the match, prosecutors said.
Israeli police assisting the Dutch investigation said in a statement that officers and forensic identification experts met fans returning on nine flights from Amsterdam.
“Among them were over 170 witnesses and more than 230 victims, and forensic evidence has been collected from dozens of them,” the statement said, adding that they also had gathered videos of violent incidents in the Dutch capital.
In addition to the police investigation and an independent inquiry announced by Amsterdam’s mayor, Dutch Justice and Security Minister David van Weel said in a letter to lawmakers that the government is investigating whether warnings of possible violence from Israel were overlooked in the lead up to the Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar rushed to the Netherlands on Friday and offered Israel’s help in the police investigation. He met Saturday with Dutch counterpart Caspar Veldkamp and with Schoof.
Schoof said on X that he told Saar, “that the Dutch government is doing everything it can to ensure that the Jewish community in our country feels safe.”
In a statement released after meeting, Saar said that he told Schoof that the attacks on Jews and Israelis “and the demand by their attackers they present passports to prove their identity, were reminiscent of dark periods in history. He stressed that Israel could not accept the persecution of Jews and Israelis on European soil.”
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said that the Netherlands’ counterterror watchdog had reported before the match there was no “concrete threat” to Israeli fans, and the match wasn’t considered a high risk.
Even so, Amsterdam authorities banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the Johan Cruyff Arena where Thursday night’s match was played. Video also showed a large crowd of Israeli fans chanting anti-Arab slogans on their way to the game. Afterward, youths on scooters and on foot went in search of Israeli fans, punching and kicking them and then fleeing quickly to evade hundreds of police officers deployed around the city, Halsema said.
Schoof returned early from a European Union summit in Hungary and met Friday night with representatives of the Jewish community in the Netherlands.
“It was a compelling conversation about the sadness and uncertainty experienced in the Jewish community. Every day they experience the consequences of growing antisemitism in the Netherlands,” Schoof said on X.
A ban on demonstrations was in place throughout Amsterdam over the weekend, and security was beefed up at Jewish sites in the city, which has a large Jewish community and was home to Jewish World War II diarist Anne Frank and her family as they hid from Nazi occupiers.
 

 


Thousands of Spaniards demand the resignation of Valencia leader for bungling flood response

Thousands of Spaniards demand the resignation of Valencia leader for bungling flood response
Updated 09 November 2024
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Thousands of Spaniards demand the resignation of Valencia leader for bungling flood response

Thousands of Spaniards demand the resignation of Valencia leader for bungling flood response
  • Regional leader Carlos Mazón is under immense pressure after his administration failed to issue flood alerts to citizens’ cellphones until hours after the flooding started
  • Many marchers held up homemade signs or chanted “Mazón Resign!” Others carried signs with messages like “You Killed Us!”

VALENCIA, Spain: Thousands of Spaniards marched in the eastern city of Valencia on Saturday to demand the resignation of the regional president in charge of the emergency response to last week’s catastrophic floods that left more than 200 dead and others missing.
Some protesters clashed with riot police in front of Valencia’s city hall, where the protesters started their march to the seat of the regional government. Police used batons to beat them back.
Regional leader Carlos Mazón is under immense pressure after his administration failed to issue flood alerts to citizens’ cellphones until hours after the flooding started on the night of Oct. 29.
Many marchers held up homemade signs or chanted “Mazón Resign!” Others carried signs with messages like “You Killed Us!”
Mazón, of the conservative Popular Party, is also being criticized for what people perceive as the slow and chaotic response to the natural disaster. Thousands of volunteers were the first boots on the ground in many of the hardest hit areas on Valencia’s southern outskirts. It took days for officials to mobilize the thousands of police reinforcements and soldiers that the regional government asked central authorities to send in.
In Spain, regional governments are charged with handling civil protection and can ask the national government in Madrid, led by the Socialists, for extra resources.
Mazón has defended his handling of the crisis saying that its magnitude was unforeseeable and that his administration didn’t receive sufficient warnings from central authorities.
But Spain’s weather agency issued a red alert, the highest level of warning, for bad weather as early as 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning as the disaster loomed.
Some communities were flooded by 6 p.m. It took until after 8 p.m. for Mazón’s administration to send out alerts to people’s cellphones.
The death toll stood at 220 victims on Saturday, with 212 coming in the eastern Valencia region, as the search for bodies goes on.
Thousands more lost their homes and streets are still covered in mud and debris 11 days since the arrival of a tsunami-like wave following a record deluge.


Russia open to hearing Trump’s proposals for ending the war, an official says

Russia open to hearing Trump’s proposals for ending the war, an official says
Updated 09 November 2024
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Russia open to hearing Trump’s proposals for ending the war, an official says

Russia open to hearing Trump’s proposals for ending the war, an official says
  • Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow and Washington were “exchanging signals” on Ukraine via “closed channels”
  • Russia is ready to listen to Trump’s proposals on Ukraine provided these were “ideas on how to move forward in the area of settlement”

KYIV: Russia is open to hearing President-elect Donald Trump’s proposals on ending the war, an official said, as a Russian drone killed one person and wounded 13 in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa and the European Union foreign policy chief held talks in Kyiv after the change in US leadership.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow and Washington were “exchanging signals” on Ukraine via “closed channels.” He did not specify whether the communication was with the current administration or Trump and members of his incoming administration.
Russia is ready to listen to Trump’s proposals on Ukraine provided these were “ideas on how to move forward in the area of settlement, and not in the area of further pumping the Kyiv regime with all kinds of aid,” Ryabkov said Saturday in an interview with Russian state news agency Interfax.
In Kyiv, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told reporters that Ukraine is ready to work with the Trump administration.
“Remember that President (Volodymyr) Zelensky was one of the first world leaders ... to greet President Trump,” he said. “It was a sincere conversation (and) an exchange of thoughts regarding further cooperation.”
“Also during the telephone conversation, further steps to establish communication between teams were discussed and this work has also begun. Therefore, we are open for further cooperation and I’m sure that a unified goal of reaching just peace unites all of us,” Sybiha said.
Sybiha appeared alongside EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who said his visit is meant to stress the European Union’s support to Ukraine.
“This support remains unwavering. This support is absolutely needed, for you to continue defending yourself against Russian aggression,” he said.
Borrell urged “faster deliveries and fewer self imposed red lines” in getting Western weapons to Ukraine. He had appealed to allies in August to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied long-range weapons to strike Russian military targets.
In Odesa, regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said high-rise residential buildings, private houses and warehouses in the Black Sea port city were damaged overnight by the “fall” of a drone. He did not specify whether the drone had been shot down by air defenses.
A further 32 Russian drones were shot down over 10 Ukrainian regions, while 18 were “lost,” according to Ukraine’s air force, likely having been electronically jammed.
A Russian aerial bomb struck a busy highway overnight in the northeastern Kharkiv province, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekohov said. No casualties were reported.
Russia is mounting an intensified aerial campaign that Ukrainian officials say they need more Western help to counter. However, doubts are deepening over what Kyiv can expect from a new US administration. Trump has repeatedly taken issue with US aid to Ukraine, made vague vows to end the war and has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In Russia, the Defense Ministry said 50 Ukrainian drones were destroyed over seven Russian regions — more than half over the Bryansk region, bordering Ukraine.


Dutch PM to skip climate summit during probe into soccer violence

Dutch PM to skip climate summit during probe into soccer violence
Updated 09 November 2024
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Dutch PM to skip climate summit during probe into soccer violence

Dutch PM to skip climate summit during probe into soccer violence
  • “Due to the major social impact of the events of last Thursday night in Amsterdam, I will remain in the Netherlands,” he said on X
  • “Violence and hate in all their manifestations have no place in sports,” the Palestine Football Association said

AMSTERDAM: Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof will miss the COP29 climate summit after clashes in Amsterdam this week between Israeli soccer fans and pro-Palestinian protesters as his government investigates if warning signs from Israel were missed.
“I will not be going to Azerbaijan next week for the UN Climate Conference COP29. Due to the major social impact of the events of last Thursday night in Amsterdam, I will remain in the Netherlands,” he said on social media platform X.
Dutch Climate Minister Sophie Hermans will still attend the Nov. 11-22 environment meeting while a climate envoy will replace Schoof, the premier added, saying Thursday night’s violence in Amsterdam would be discussed at Monday’s cabinet meeting.
At least five people were injured during the unrest involving fans of the visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team who lost 5-0 to Ajax in the Europa League.
Justice Minister David van Weel said in a letter to parliament that information was still being gathered, including on possible warning signs from Israel, and whether the assaults were organized and had an antisemitic motive.
Fast-track justice would be applied with maximum efforts to find every suspect, he vowed.
Four people remain in custody over the unrest, police said.
Political leaders from Schoof down have denounced the attacks as antisemitic and urged swift justice.
Videos of the unrest on social media showed riot police in action, with some attackers shouting anti-Israeli slurs.
Footage also showed Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters chanting anti-Arab slogans before the match.
Israel sent planes to The Netherlands to bring fans home.
“Violence and hate in all their manifestations have no place in sports,” the Palestine Football Association (PFA) said.
Amsterdam banned demonstrations at the weekend and gave police emergency stop-and-search powers.
Antisemitic incidents have surged in the Netherlands during the Gaza war, with many Jewish organizations and schools reporting threats and hate mail.