First flight with Israelis evacuated from Amsterdam lands in 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,” Liza Dvir, spokeswoman for the airport authority said.

National Israeli airline El Al announced 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 will 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.

Two other Amsterdam flights scheduled before the match took place would also bring back Israelis, the airline said.

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 hospital were released,” it added in a statement, attributing the information to Amsterdam police.