Jerome Valcke, the secretary-general of FIFA (the International governing body of Soccer) has pledged to rebuild the Gaza soccer stadium that was destroyed by Israel in Operation Pillars of Defence.
On the FIFA site they write,
“We see it our mandate to rebuild football infrastructure which has been destroyed. We will also rebuild the stadium in Gaza, which has been destroyed. Football brings people together and we will support any re-construction necessary when football infrastructure is destroyed through disasters.”
The IDF targeted the Gaza soccer stadium on November 19, 2012, as its field constituted a dual-purpose platform, the first was obviously soccer, while the second use was as a launching pad for long-range rockets that hit Tel Aviv and Gush Etzion (while aiming for Jerusalem).
Hamas uses civilian areas for weapons and terror staging grounds, as well as “human shields” as a matter of policy.
The IDF said it wonders if FIFA is aware that the stadium was used as a rocket launching site.
There’s no word at this time if FIFA plans to also rebuild the launch infrastructure for the Fajr-5 rockets when it rebuilds the rest of the stadium.