Israeli football fans have described being attacked by groups of young men in Amsterdam, with some suffering injuries including broken noses.

Adi Reuben, 24, said he was kicked to the ground and had his nose broken when he and his friends were confronted by a group of more than 10 men as they walked back to their hotel.

The men asked Mr. Reuben where he and his friends were from. “They shouted ‘Jewish, Jewish, IDF, IDF,’” he said, referring to the Israeli army.

Police say the violence involved men on scooters carrying out ‘hit and run’ attacks, which were difficult to prevent.

“They started messing with me and I realized I had to run, but it was dark and I didn’t know where to go. I fell to the ground and ten people kicked me. They shouted ‘Palestine’,” he said. Ruben told the BBC.

“They kicked me to the ground for about a minute, and then they walked away, they weren’t afraid of anything.

“I realized I had blood all over my body face and my nose was broken and it is very painful.”

Mr Reuben said he could not see properly for about 30 minutes but decided not to go to hospital in Amsterdam because he had heard that taxi drivers were involved in the violence.

Instead, he said he would fly to Israel on Friday afternoon and receive medical treatment.

He added that it appeared to be “a specific attack that was organized in advance.”

Some Israeli football fans said they were ordered to show their passports when they were attacked.

Gal Binyanmin Tshuva, 29, told the BBC he was attacked outside a casino on Wednesday after watching another football match.

“We were confronted by about twenty people running towards us. They asked me where I was from and I said I was from Greece. They said they didn’t believe me and asked for my passport.

When he told them he didn’t have it, the men punched him, pushed him to the ground and kicked him in the face, Mr Tshuva said.

“I can’t remember anything after that, and I woke up in an ambulance with blood all over my face, and realized they had broken two of my teeth.”

British men Aaron and Jacob, who are Jewish, told the BBC that they went to the match but left early.

Afterwards, they said they saw men shouting anti-Semitic threats and stomping on an Israeli man. They intervened, helped the man to his feet and left.

Shortly afterwards, a group asked the men if they were Jewish, and Aaron said they were British.

“But they said ‘you helped the Jew,’ and he punched me in the face and broke my glasses,” Aaron said.

“I was bleeding and have a black eye. I’m okay, but a little shaken.”

The BBC has seen a photo of Aaron with a stream of blood running down his nose, his eye swollen and other cuts on his face.

Esther Voet, editor-in-chief of a Dutch Jewish weekly magazine, lives in the center of the city. She says she offered her house to Israeli fans after seeing images of the violence.

“I told them this is a Jewish house and you are safe here,” she told Israeli public broadcaster Kann. “People were really scared. I never thought I would experience this in Amsterdam.”

Dutch police said Israeli fans were “severely assaulted” in hit-and-run attacks, most of which were carried out by young men on scooters.

Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla said it had proven difficult to prevent such attacks, even when a significant number of officers were present.

The force ultimately decided to round up and protect Maccabi supporters before transporting them out of the area in buses, he said.

The attacks overnight into Friday followed some tensions between Maccabi fans and people in Amsterdam in the previous days, officials said.

On Wednesday, Maccabi fans attacked a taxi and burned a Palestinian flag, police chief Holla said.

There were more clashes on Dam Square last night through Thursday, but the police were largely able to keep the groups apart.

Some Maccabi Tel Aviv fans have previously been involved in racist incidents in Israel, including taunting the team’s Palestinian and Arab players and reportedly pressuring the team to expel them.

Fans of the team have also previously attacked protesters demonstrating against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Asked about video footage showing Maccabi fans in Amsterdam chanting offensive slogans, Mayor Halsema said: “What happened last night has nothing to do with protest. There is no excuse for what happened.”

Additional reporting by Shaina Oppenheimer in Jerusalem