Destiny Littleton, a USC alum and professional women’s basketball player for Hapoel Jerusalem, was kept up at night by drone strikes as multiple countries in the Middle East face air attacks from Iran.
Littleton is now safely home and is training for a future offer from the WNBA after leaving her team in Jerusalem, according to a post on her Instagram.
Annenberg Media spoke to her while she was still in an active war zone.
“You can’t just kind of sleep the time away,” Littleton said. “The sirens and the alerts and the bombs and the missiles, it’s kind of just been a routine, a routine that I wish upon no one.”
After the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran on Feb. 22, Littleton was stuck in Jerusalem with no hopes of getting out of the country to escape the conflict.
With no way out, Littleton’s days were filled with high anxiety and no sleep as she attempted to keep herself safe during the chaos.
“Lots and lots of stress, lots of stress eating,” she said. “Just been eating junk for no reason, and lots of screen time, watching phones and watching Netflix and shows, and there’s no sleep happening.”
Additionally, she is constantly alerted by an app on her phone that warns her of incoming missile strikes or attacks and usually only has 90 seconds from the sounds of the sirens around her to run to the underground bunker.
“It’s been pretty much the same, just alerts on your phone, sirens going to a safe space, come out the safe space, and do it all over again,” Littleton said.
Prior to her time in L.A., Littleton played for two years at the University of South Carolina under head coach Dawn Staley. The basketball player was stuck with two other former Gamecocks, Mikiah Herbert-Harrigan and Tiffany Mitchell, and their former coach was doing everything in her power to get them out.
“She called me day one and checked in and let me know that she is working really hard behind the scenes to get all of us out, and still is working hard,” Littleton said.
Littleton said that Staley has been doing her best to communicate with her former players about the next steps to ensure their safety.
“She has been doing the Lord’s work, and knowing that you have someone like that on your side, it means a lot, especially in times like these,” she said.
Littleton’s experience has moved her to ask her social media followers for compassion toward the innocent civilians caught in the conflict.
“Try to disassociate the civilians in the government…the civilians don’t deserve the hate, the death wishes, they just don’t deserve it. Israeli natives and foreigners don’t deserve it,” she said.
With the airspace closed, Littleton alongside civilians could not escape the conflict and she hoped that her videos could give others outside the region a different perspective.
“War is not a good thing, no matter how you look at it, and losing innocent lives is not a good thing either, no matter what side of politics you’re on,” she said.
With many of her followers commenting negatively on her posts, she is continuously urging them to put politics aside and understand that innocent people on all sides are being affected by the fighting.
“That’s really kind of been my main message as I’ve been living through it and being kind of stuck, I don’t have a choice,” Littleton said.“There is nowhere to run. There is nowhere to go. So, while people who are sending these messages are free and enjoying sunshine, just think about that for me and everyone else involved in the events that have been taking place.”