Zmajevi play in a city where air raid sirens echoed two months earlier

In Haifa, a city in northern Israel where the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team plays a European Championship qualifier against Israel on Sunday, air raid sirens echoed as recently as August this year, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria.

When the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip began on July 8 this year, in which more than 2,200 Palestinians would be killed in just 50 days, one of the targets of the opposing Hamas was the city of Haifa, which is only about 180 km from Gaza.

Nevertheless, due to the highly sophisticated protection possessed by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, the lives of people in Haifa were never endangered, although Hamas attempted to fire several rockets towards Haifa.

Even FIFA experts in July this year made a decision to ban matches from being played on Israeli stadiums, but the decision was subsequently overturned after the signing of a ceasefire between Gaza and Israel at the end of August.

Haifa is the third-largest city in Israel by size and population, and represents the regional center of the north of the country. It is a major scientific center, with students from North America and Europe also studying there.

A charming phrase goes: „If you want to pray, go to Jerusalem; if you want to have fun, go to Tel Aviv; and if you want to work, come to Haifa.“ In Haifa, IBM, Intel, Motorola, Yahoo, Microsoft also have their offices...

There are two theories about the origin of the city's name. The first theory says it was named after the high priest „Caiaphas“ who lived in Jesus' time, and the second that the name was formed by combining two Hebrew words „Hof“ and „Yafe“ meaning „beautiful coast.“

Haifa truly is that – it is enough to mention the fact of 17 kilometers of beach around the city.

About 250,000 inhabitants live in Haifa, belonging to five different religions. Jews (liberal, religious, and ultra-Orthodox) live alongside Christians, Muslims, Bahá'ís, and Druze. The surrounding settlements, mostly Jewish, adjoin the city, so the wider region has about 600,000 inhabitants. Of the total population of the city itself, 80% are Jews.

The city lies on three levels: the lower part or center, which contains the old town, port, and coast, the middle part (Hadar HaCarmel), and the upper city. The difference in altitude is very pronounced.

In Haifa, there is one of the most beautiful gardens in the world, which serves not only for enjoying the beauty of trimmed flowers and grass but is also the seat of the Bahá'í religion. Besides Mount Carmel, Haifa is also known worldwide for this building. The garden is one of the finest achievements of so-called landscape architecture.

Numerous music and film festivals take place in the city throughout the year, along with about a dozen museums, including the Israeli Museum of Science, Technology, and Space, which is visited by up to 150,000 visitors annually.