WNBA's Tiffany Mitchell and former South Carolina women's basketball players stuck in Israel amid strikes

South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley said Saturday that the university is working to bring three former women's basketball players, including WNBA veteran Tiffany Mitchell, home from Israel as joint missile strikes with the United States against Iran continued. 

Staley shared a message on X revealing that Mitchell, who played last season for the Seattle Storm, along with former Phoenix Mercury forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan and former Team USA guard Destiny Littleton, were all in Israel at the time of the strikes.

"Please pray for our @GamecockWBB @TiffMitch25 @2121Mikiah @dstnylttltn24 who are in a war zone in Israel," her post read.  

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"We are working a plan to get home.  Let us pray for our loved ones to return home safely asap!  Thank you in advance." 

Neither the WNBA nor the University of South Carolina immediately responded to Fox News Digital's request for comment. 

Littleton, who played for the South Carolina Gamecocks from 2019-2022, posted a series of video updates on social media stating that she was "safe." 

"I'm about to head to the shelter now," she said in one video. "Unfortunate, but this is the circumstance right now." 

Mitchell reshared Staley's post on X with the praying hands emojis, but did not comment further. Herbert Harrigan did the same.  

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Littleton currently plays for Hapoel Lev Jerusalem, a professional women's basketball team in the Israeli Women Basketball Premier League. According to the team's Facebook, she signed with the team in November. She previously played for Team USA basketball, winning a gold medal at the 2017 FIBA 3x3 U18 World Cup.

Mitchell signed with the Storm in July after beginning the 2025 season with the Las Vegas Aces. She has played several offseasons overseas, including a stint with the Russian Women's Basketball Premier League. She last played with Hapoel Lev Jerusalem during the 2024-2025 season and even won the Israeli Women Basketball Premier League championship in 2019. It was not immediately known if she was currently playing for the team. She announced on her Instagram in November that she had signed with the Beijing Great Wall of the Women's Chinese Basketball Association. 

Herbert Harrigan was a first-round draft pick in the WNBA, being selected sixth overall in the 2020 WNBA Draft. She has several stints throughout the league, last playing for the Mercury in 2024. She was later traded to the Dallas Wings before getting waived last year. She currently plays in the Israeli Women Basketball Premier League for Elitzur Ramla.

The U.S. joined Israel in launching preemptive strikes against Iran on Saturday morning. In video remarks posted to Truth Social, Trump encouraged the Iranian people to take over their government once the United States and Israel finished "major combat operations" in Iran.

Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes targeting U.S. facilities in multiple countries. Fox News' Jennifer Griffin reported that approximately 40 missiles had landed in Israel. Additionally, Iran appeared to hit the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, but no casualties were reported. Iran also launched missiles at Saudi Arabia and Jordan, where the U.S. has squadrons of advanced fighter jets, Griffin added.

Fox News Digital's Michael Sinkewicz and Rachel Wolf contributed to this report. 

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