Soccer Football – UEFA Europa League – Maccabi Tel Aviv v GNK Dinamo Zagreb – TSC Arena, Topola, Serbia – October 2, 2025 Maccabi Tel Aviv players pose for a team group photo before the match. Photo: REUTERS/Zorana Jevtic

An Israeli Premier League soccer game on Sunday at Tel Aviv’s Bloomfield Stadium between city rivals Hapoel and Maccabi was abruptly canceled shortly before kickoff due to “public disorder and violent riots” by fans in and around the stadium, according to Israel Police.

The match was called off out of concerns for public safety after a group of soccer fans threw dozens of smoke grenades and pyrotechnics devices onto the field inside the stadium, police said. The Associated Press cited a police spokesperson who said 42 people were injured, including five police officers, and dozens of people were arrested. Rioting fans outside of the stadium, who were upset about the canceled game, threw bottles and assaulted police officers, and one police officer was injured and required medical treatment, according to authorities. More than a dozen fans wearing masks were detained for unlawful assembly during the riots. Before the match, police also arrested a suspect, in his 20s, who attempted to smuggle four fireworks into stadium.

“Disorderly conduct, riots, injured police officers, and damage to infrastructure – this is not a soccer game, this is a breach of order and serious violence,” said Israel Police. “Following disturbances of public order and risk to human life ahead of the start of the soccer match at Bloomfield Stadium, the Israel Police has notified the teams’ management and the referees that it has been decided not to allow the match to take place,” the police force added.

“This is not scenery – this is a life-threatening danger,” Israel Police said Monday in a post on X that included a clip of the smoke grenades and flames being thrown inside Bloomfield Stadium. Tel Aviv District Commander Deputy Commissioner Haim Sarigrof said the police force has “zero tolerance for violent incidents.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv said in a statement that the game was canceled after flares were thrown by Hapoel fans, not supporters of the Maccabi team, according to the Associated Press. Hapoel Tel Aviv described the decision by police to cancel the game as “reckless and scandalous” and said most of the injuries were allegedly caused by police officers.

“In reality, most of the injuries from the event were actually caused by the brutal police violence at the end of the match, as a direct result of the scandalous decision to cancel the event,” Hapoel claimed. “Everyone saw the disturbing videos — children being trampled by horses, police officers beating fans indiscriminately. The police have taken over the sport — and we call from here on the leaders of Israeli football to do everything in their power to put an end to this, otherwise there will be no football here.”

“It goes without saying that the club’s management condemns all acts of violence—and will fight against lawbreakers, even if they are wearing uniforms,” Hapoel added.

Bloomfield Stadium is shared by both Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv, but Hapoel is designated as the home team. Maccabi fans have been banned from attending the team’s Europa League match against Aston Villa next month in the United Kingdom because of security concerns by British police regarding anti-Israel protests. In November 2024, Maccabi fans were violently assaulted in a premeditated and coordinated attack following a soccer game in Amsterdam between the soccer team and the Dutch club Ajax.

Earlier this year, an Israeli Premier League match between Maccabi Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv was canceled midway through the game for security reasons after Haifa fans threw flares at athletes.

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Oct. 19, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

US envoys met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday aiming to corral Israel and Hamas to get the Gaza ceasefire plan back on track after an explosion of violence over the weekend that threatened to derail the week-old truce.

Israel and Hamas have both recommitted to the ceasefire plan brokered by US President Donald Trump since Sunday’s flare-up in which a Palestinian attack that killed two soldiers prompted an Israeli bombardment in Gaza.

However, with even the first stages of the truce shaken by repeated flashes of violence, including on Monday, it was far from clear whether the US will be able to keep pressure on the two sides and maintain momentum to end the conflict.

The latest events reflected the stumbling blocks to keeping the long-sought ceasefire from unraveling and securing a lasting peace after two years of war in Gaza. Key questions of Hamas disarming, further Israeli troop pullbacks, and future governance of the Palestinian enclave remain unresolved.

TALKS ON NEXT PHASE OF CEASEFIRE PLAN

Trump, keeping pressure on both Hamas and Israel as he seeks to salvage the signature foreign policy achievement of the first year of his second term, said on Monday the US was taking many steps to maintain the ceasefire.

He told reporters the “Hamas situation” would be handled quickly but that he had not told Israel to “go in and take care of it.” He said that while Hamas was in violation of the agreement, he did not believe its leadership was responsible but that it was facing “some rebellion” in its ranks.

If Hamas leaders do not straighten it out, “we’re going to eradicate them if we have to,” Trump said at the White House. But he insisted that such actions would not involve US troops on the ground.

During their visit that began on Monday, the US envoys, Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, were expected to try to shore up the truce then start talks on the next, more difficult, phase of the 20-step plan.

US Vice President JD Vance was also due to visit Israel on Tuesday, with Netanyahu saying the pair would discuss regional challenges and opportunities.

High-level US diplomacy in the region, with talks also due later on Monday with Hamas in Egypt, underscored the priority Trump has placed on cementing the ceasefire after proclaiming last week the deal heralded “the historic dawn of a new Middle East.”

On Monday, Palestinian medics said three more people had been killed by Israeli tank fire near the “yellow line” inside Gaza demarcating Israel’s initial military pullback from the main populated areas.

The Israeli military said forces had fired at militants who crossed that line, which it was started marking with concrete barriers and yellow poles about every 200 meters (219 yards).

Gaza City residents reported confusion over the line’s location due to the lack of a visible boundary.

HAMAS TO HAND OVER BODY OF ANOTHER HOSTAGE

Witkoff and Kushner’s visit to Israel, aimed at discussions on the next phase of Trump’s complex ceasefire plan, was scheduled before Sunday’s flare-up in violence, according to US and Israeli sources.

Israel is unlikely to publicize any progress in the talks until the remains of more hostages are returned.

The Red Cross received the body of another hostage from Hamas on Monday and transferred it to the Israeli military, Netanyahu’s office said.

Israel believes Hamas could hand over up to five more bodies immediately. Other bodies among 15 still in Gaza may be hard to recover because of destruction in the enclave.

Egypt will host talks in Cairo on Monday with Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’s exiled Gaza chief, over ways to follow up on implementing the ceasefire, the group said in a statement.

A Palestinian official close to the talks said the group‘s delegation would discuss formation of a technocratic body to run Gaza without Hamas representation.

Hamas and other allied factions reject any foreign administration of Gaza, as envisaged in the Trump plan, and have so far resisted calls to lay down arms, which may complicate implementation of the deal.

RESIDENTS FEAR MORE OUTBREAKS OF VIOLENCE

Israel said it launched strikes across the enclave in response to a Palestinian attack that killed two soldiers operating inside the agreed deployment line in Rafah in southern Gaza.

Hamas’s armed wing said it was unaware of clashes in Rafah and had not been in contact with groups there since March.

Hamas, an internationally designated terrorist group, has detailed what it calls a series of violations by Israel that it says killed 46 people and stopped essential supplies from reaching the enclave.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said any Hamas terrorists in areas of Gaza still under Israeli control must leave immediately and anyone remaining beyond the yellow line would be targeted without warning.

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif speaks during an interview with Reuters in Islamabad, Pakistan, Oct. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Salahuddin

A ceasefire agreement between Islamabad and Kabul rests on the ruling Afghan Taliban’s ability to rein in militants attacking Pakistan across their shared border, Pakistan‘s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters on Monday, underscoring the fragility of the accord.

The South Asian neighbors agreed to a ceasefire in Doha at the weekend after days of border clashes that killed dozens, the worst such violence since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021.

Ground fighting between the one-time allies and Pakistani airstrikes across their contested 2,600-km (1,600-mile) frontier were triggered after Islamabad demanded that Kabul control militants, saying they operated from havens in Afghanistan.

“Anything coming from Afghanistan will be a violation of this agreement,” said Asif, who led the talks with his Afghan counterpart Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob. “Everything hinges on this one clause.”

The Taliban administration and Afghanistan’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

WRITTEN AGREEMENT SAYS NO INCURSIONS FROM AFGHANISTAN

In the written agreement signed by Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Qatar, it was clearly spelled out that there would not be any incursions, the minister said in an interview in his office at Pakistan‘s parliament in Islamabad.

“We have a ceasefire agreement as long as there is no violation of the agreement which is already in force.”

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, an umbrella of several Islamist militant groups, operates out of Afghanistan to attack Pakistan “in connivance” with the ruling Taliban, the minister said.

Kabul denies giving haven to militants to attack Pakistan and accuses the Pakistani military of spreading misinformation about Afghanistan and sheltering Islamic State-linked militants to undermine its stability and sovereignty.

Islamabad denies the accusations.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, said on Sunday that at the Doha talks, “It was decided that neither country would take hostile actions against the other, and support will not be provided to groups operating against the government of Pakistan.”

In a follow-up post on X, he said it reflected the Taliban’s longstanding position that Afghanistan’s territory would not be used against any other country.

The statements made about the agreement did not constitute a joint declaration, he said.

KABUL ‘IS NOT A NO-GO AREA’, WARNS PAKISTAN

The Pakistani Taliban, who have been waging a war for years against the Pakistani state in a bid to overthrow the government and replace it with their strict brand of Islamic governance, have accelerated attacks in recent months to target Pakistani military.

Pakistan carried out airstrikes on the Afghan capital Kabul, including one on October 9 in an attempt to kill Pakistani Taliban leader Noor Wali Mehsud, Pakistan security officials have said, though he later appeared in a video showing he was alive.

“We were being attacked. Our territory was being attacked. So, we just did tit for tat. We were paying them in the same coin,” Asif said.

“They are in Kabul. They are everywhere. Wherever they are we will attack them. Kabul is not, you know, a no-go area.”

The next round of talks would be held in Istanbul on October 25 to evolve a mechanism on how to enforce the agreement, Asif said.

Qatar’s foreign ministry, which mediated Saturday’s talks along with Turkey, said the follow-up meetings were meant “to ensure the sustainability of the ceasefire and verify its implementation in a reliable and sustainable manner.”