Israel Soccer Season Delayed by Gaza War
No Soccer for You: Israeli fans hold up sign as Barcelona star Lionel Messi plays in friendly match in Tel Aviv last year. Image by getty images
The start of the Israeli soccer season was delayed for the second weekend in a row on Friday following the resumption of rocket fire by Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Football Association said.
Play in the secondary Toto Cup competition, a regular precursor to the start of league action, was due to start on the weekend of July 26 but was postponed by a week, and for a second time this weekend, the Israel Football Association said.
To reduce the chance of mass casualties being caused by falling rockets, Israeli authorities have banned gatherings of more than 500 people up to 40 kilometers from the Gaza Strip and of more than 1,000 between 40-80km away.
Many international sporting events in Israel have been called off, with teams involved in European club soccer competitions forced to host opponents in Cyprus, and tennis, basketball, swimming and sailing events also affected.
A month of fighting between Israeli forces and Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip had wound down on Tuesday but militants resumed rocket fire as a 72-hour ceasefire expired at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Friday.
Until the ceasefire ended, Gaza officials said 1,874 Palestinians, mostly civilians, had been killed. Israel said 64 of its soldiers and three civilians were killed since fighting began on July 8, after a surge in Palestinian rocket salvoes.
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
