The Palestine national soccer team will be playing two exhibition matches at the Athlone Stadium in February.

• The Palestine national soccer team will be playing two exhibition matches at the Athlone Stadium in February.
• The City of Cape Town will be supporting SAFA by not charging rental hire costs for the stadium as well as providing other services. 
• Geordin Hill-Lewis called on Capetonians to attend the matches to show their support for peace and justice in Palestine.

The mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, called on Capetonians to show their support for peace and justice in Palestine by attending next month’s exhibition soccer matches between the Palestine national team and local invitational teams.

The matches, which have been scheduled for 11 and 18 February by the South African Football Association (SAFA), will be played at the Athlone Stadium.

In a statement on Sunday, Hill-Lewis said the City of Cape Town was looking forward to welcoming the Palestine national soccer team.

Hill-Lewis said:

The city will be waiving the rental hire costs for the stadium and providing R400 000 in event support services, including traffic and waste management.

“Sport has played an important role in our democratic journey, and I’m proud that the City of Cape Town is partnering with SAFA to host the Palestinian national football team,” Hill-Lewis said.

Meanwhile, the mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith, said the sponsorship aligns with the city’s past sponsorships of similar sporting events.

The announcement comes just days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that South Africa’s accusations about Israel’s military operation in Gaza have the potential to constitute genocide.

South Africa approached the ICJ asking for an order to immediately suspend Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which has reportedly claimed the lives of 25 000 Palestinians.

FIRST TAKE | ICJ ruling doesn’t end the Israeli-Gaza war, but does affirm SA’s principled stance

South Africa argued that there was evidence of genocidal intent by Israel.

Israel’s latest military campaign in Gaza was a result of Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which resulted in 1 200 people being killed and 240 others abducted.

While the ICJ did not order a ceasefire, as it appears to have accepted Israel’s argument that such an order would result in a denial of the county’s right to defend itself, it did make other orders to protect Palestinians as requested by South Africa.

The ICJ, also known as the World Court, ruled that Israel must stop killing Palestinians, stop causing serious bodily or mental harm, stop deliberately inflicting on Palestinians conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, and must stop imposing measures intended to prevent births of Palestinians, News24 reported.