A former NBA player competing in Israel recounted the past 72 hours being in the country as Hamas militants launched an unprecedented attack over the weekend.
Dusty Hannahs, a former member of the Memphis Grizzlies who also played in the NBA G League, had made his Israel League debut on Friday night for the Ironi Ness Ziona and woke up the next day to sirens going off as Hamas began launching missiles from the Gaza Strip.
The Arkansas native said during an interview on Sirus XM Radio that it took him a moment to realize what was happening and then he started to hear “big booms” — presumably from the Iron Dome defense system shooting down terrorist rockets.
“It’s pretty insane, but you can still feel the shaking of the impact in the sky, especially if it gets low” Hannahs said. “I could kind of feel my room shake, so I ran to the bomb shelter on my floor. As a kid from Arkansas, it was all pretty foreign to me. The room was shaking and it kind of just went on all day.”
Hannahs had been living in Bat Yam, Israel, a city located on the Mediterranean Sea.
At roughly 5 p.m. his team’s general manager reached out to players telling them to pack a bag and get ready to leave for the airport.
It was while Hannahs was at the airport that he found out that a missile had struck the city.
“I’m reading it like, ‘wow I just got out in time,’” He said, only to reveal another terrifying detail.
“As I look up everyone in the airport is sprinting to a shelter,” Hannahs continued. “As an American, my first thought was there’s gunman. Like someone got in the building or something and then I heard giant booms. And they were shooting missiles at the airport while we were there trying to get out.”
Hannahs said that he did get out of Israel safely and that they were in a resort in Athens, Greece waiting for an indication from the league as to what will happen with the season.
At least 800 Israelis and 11 Americans have been reportedly killed during the attack, which took place on Saturday during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah.