Jerusalem

Air raid sirens blared across occupied East Jerusalem on Saturday after missiles were reportedly fired by Iran, with explosions heard and interception trails visible in the sky.

Less than a month ago, Destiny Littleton posted on Instagram about a whimsical visit to a McDonald’s in Jerusalem, where the former USC shooting guard is playing professional basketball.

Her posts the last four days have been decidedly different. Sirens blare in the background as she anxiously tries to locate a bomb shelter. Then bombs can be heard, although Littleton can’t bring herself to say the word, instead spelling it out: “I definitely hear three or four B-O-M-B noises,” she says in video. “You didn’t hear that?”

Littleton is one of many United States citizens attempting to leave the Middle East per guidance from the U.S. State Department. The department posted on social media site X, instructing U.S. citizens to leave more than a dozen countries because of safety risks and to shelter in place until they are able to do so.

The war that began when U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has grown into a regional conflict. Iran and its allies have retaliated against Israel and neighboring Gulf states.

Littleton played at USC in 2022-2023 as a graduate student, transferring after winning a national championship at South Carolina a year earlier. As a San Diego Bishop high school senior in 2016-2017, she led the nation in scoring and became the first high school player in state history to score more than 4,000 points in a career.

Littleton moved to Israel in November to play for Hapoel Jerusalem, one of the top pro teams in the country. Like anyone in Israel, her life has been upended the last several days.

She has chronicled the ordeal with a handful of Instagram posts. In one, she filmed bright flashes in the sky while saying, “There’s no siren going on right now and yet there are these things in the sky blowing up. Pretty sure they’re either missiles or drones.”

On Monday she relocated to the home of a teammate because she said the bomb shelter she had been using was tiny.

“I’m going to go pack my stuff up and go to my teammate’s house until all this is over,” she said while walking hurriedly outside. “They have a shelter there. It’s way more comfortable than that B-O-M-B shelter I was just in. It could fit five people and that was it. I was, ‘no, no, no, I don’t want to be in here.’”

Bombs could still be heard in the distance on her videos Monday and Tuesday. Littleton, like many foreigners, is trying to leave Israel as soon as possible.

“To those asking why haven’t I left, the air space is closed so nobody can go in or out,” she said. “Until that gets lifted, I will be here and remain safe with my teammates.”

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley wrote on X that three of her former players — Littleton, Mikiah Herbert-Harrigan and Tiffany Mitchell — are “in a war zone” in Israel but she said Sunday that “there’s nothing you can do” because of the canceled flights.

Littleton thanked her followers in one of her latest dispatches:

“It is 11:47 p.m. on night three and I first just want to say thank you to all the strangers, all of my friends and my family who have sent countless prayers and love my way,” she said. “I’m so grateful and thankful. It means the world to me and it has got me through these three days….

“Back to the update. We have had a really quiet day today…. For a moment it felt like we are not in a war. I’ve just got to thank God and give prayers for the peace we’ve had today. My mind is at ease, just a little bit. I’m thankful for the small wins and pray as we look for a way out, try to get to a safe space, back home to America is the goal.

“I know that with everyone helping and everyone by my side, I will get there, we will get there, my teammates and everyone in the league will get there. Again, thank you. I love you guys.”

Attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have intensified recently, backed by Israeli forces.

A young Palestinian man was killed and four other people were injured when a group of Israeli settlers, backed by Israeli forces, opened fire on a village in the occupied West Bank.

The death of the young man on Wednesday evening, identified as Nasrallah Abu Siyam, 19, marks the first killing of a Palestinian by Israeli settler gunfire so far this year, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.

During the attack on the village of Mukhmas, located northeast of occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli settlers also stole dozens of sheep from local Palestinian residents, Wafa reports.

The attack on Mukhmas and other Palestinian towns and villages constitutes a “dangerous escalation in systematic terrorism and reflects a complete partnership between the settlers and the occupation forces,” Mu’ayyad Sha’ban, head of the Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, told Wafa.

Calling for international protection for Palestinian communities, Sha’ban said that settlers have now killed 37 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since October 2023, but the escalating violence would not deter Palestinians from holding onto their land.

Mukhmas and the adjacent Bedouin community of Khallat al-Sidra have faced repeated attacks by Israeli settlers, often occurring with the protection or presence of Israeli forces, according to reports.

The governorate of Jerusalem, one of the 16 administrative districts of Palestine, said in a statement that the killing of the young man by Israeli settlers was a “fully-fledged crime… carried out under the protection and supervision of the Israeli occupation forces.”

Translation: Martyr of the town of Mukhmas, Nasrallah Abu Siyam, who ascended after succumbing to his injury from settler gunfire during the attack on the town northeast of occupied Jerusalem.

The governorate said the attack was part of a dangerous surge of violence carried out by settlers in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and characterised by the widespread use of live ammunition, direct shooting at Palestinian citizens, as well as burning local Palestinian homes, damaging vehicles and property, and seizing land.

Armed settler violence is being supported by “pillars of the Israeli government”, foremost among them far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, the governorate added, according to Wafa.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank since 2023, and more than 10,000 people have been forcibly displaced.

Since the start of this year alone, almost 700 Palestinians in nine communities have been displaced due to settler attacks, including 600 displaced from the Ras Ein al-Auja Bedouin community in Jericho governorate, OCHA reports.

Earlier this week, Israel’s government approved a plan to designate large areas of the occupied West Bank as Israeli “state property”, shifting the burden of proof to Palestinians to establish ownership of their land in a longstanding situation where Israel has made it all but impossible to obtain property titles.

Described as de-facto annexation of the West Bank, the Israeli government’s decision has drawn widespread international condemnation as a grave escalation that undermines the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.

Israel’s attempted land grab and killings by settlers come amid a sharp increase in Israeli military operations across the occupied West Bank, where forces have intensified raids, carried out forced evictions, home demolitions, and other repressive measures in multiple areas.