30 Students Injured In Stampede During Pro-Israel Vigil At FL College

GAINESVILLE, FL — Dozens of students were injured in a stampede during a pro-Israel vigil Monday night at the University of Florida, according to multiple reports.

The university’s Jewish community gathered for the candlelight vigil at Turlington Plaza in response to Saturday’s Hamas attack on Israel that killed hundreds of people.

The crowd panicked just before 9 p.m. when someone attending the vigil fainted, causing others to ask someone to call 911.

“This call was misunderstood by the crowd, which dispersed in a panic,” according to a University of Florida Police Department news release.

Noam Levi, a speaker at the vigil, told WCJB, “I gave a speech and a girl screamed, then everyone started running. We didn’t hear a gunshot but we heard some sort of noise and then everyone started running.”

“We have no reason to believe that there was malicious intent behind this incident,” Chief Linda Stump-Kurnick said. “It was an accident that was misinterpreted by the crowd that led to panic.”

Officers in the area secured the scene and escorted the crowd from the area.

At least five people were injured as the crowd rushed, the agency said. They were treated for minor injuries at the scene by the Gainesville Fire Rescue Department and the Gator Emergency Medical Response Unit.

This conflicts with reports by local media. Witnesses told the Gainesville Sun that many students fell and tripped over each other as they ran from the area, and more than 30 went to UF Health Shands Hospital for injuries.

Hospital officials told the Sun Tuesday morning that they treated about two dozen students overnight, mostly for minor injuries, including broken bones, concussions, and cuts, and none were admitted.

"It was a real stampede," Chanie Goldman, co-director of the Chabad Jewish Student Center, who spent the evening with students at the hospital, told the Sun. "Kids are very shaken up ... People came to the event on edge to begin with because there is a fear for going to any Jewish event that something could happen."

In a joint statement released Monday, Chabad UF Jewish Student Center and UF Hillel said, “Today our campus Jewish community gathered in the hundreds to stand with Israel at a unity gathering. It was a moving and beautiful evening. Unfortunately, during the program a noise led a panic to ensue. While we do not definitively know the cause, we feel certain this was rooted in misunderstanding. Everyone is safe with the exception of minor injuries. Our institutions exist to support Jewish students. We remain united in our commitment to this sacred work.”