Ghana midfielder Laryea Kingston has revealed he had to terminate his contract with Israeli side Hapoel Be'er Sheva in fear of his life.
The 31-year-old reached a mutual agreement to end his stay with the top flight side last month just three months into his two-year contract.
Life at Hapoel Be’er Sheva rather unsettled for Kingston who told tales of regular aerial attacks, rockets and explosions.
With a population just under 200,000, the city of Be'er Sheva sits around 20 miles east of Israel’s notorious Gaza Strip and finds itself an easy target for hostile militants.
The fragile ceasefire with militant groups was breached in October, sparking chaos across the region and forcing Kingston to move his wife and children back to Accra to ensure their safety.
The player previously dodged bullets whilst playing for Russian side Terek Grozny in war-torn Chechnya.
''I signed a two-year deal but it was just not safe there (in Israel). We had bombs and rockets and everything going off because it’s close to the Gaza strip," Kingston told the Evening News.
''It was very dangerous for me and my family so I told them to cancel the contract and I came back to Accra.
''Every few days there were rockets from Gaza landing in the city I was staying in. It was so dangerous for me and my family so I decided to move.
"I came back to Ghana two weeks ago and I’m waiting to move to Europe again. That’s where I want to play.
''Compared to all the places I played in, like Russia and Scotland, the Israeli league is of a different standard. The other leagues are far ahead of the Israeli league.
"Right from the beginning I wasn’t too happy but what could I do? I had a contract for two years so I tried to be professional. But compared to Russia and Scotland, the level of football was not the same.
''My performances weren’t a problem. I played all the time and I got man-of-the-match in almost every game. If you aren’t happy where you are, though, it is better that you move on.
''I wasn’t happy and my family weren’t happy – every week there was some kind of alarm or a missile or something. I found it really difficult. I moved my wife and my children back to Ghana immediately when it all started.
"I stayed alone for three months and that was hard. I was frightened about my own safety and I just wasn’t comfortable.
"And it wasn’t just me. We had a Portuguese right-back (Luis Torres) and a Polish goalkeeper (Marcin Cabaj) who also left because of all these problems.
"Even training was difficult. We had to leave the city to go to Tel Aviv to train because it wasn’t safe.
"The whole place was not stable, it is dangerous for everybody. The local players are used to all these problems so they are fine, but the foreigners find it difficult to stay. Almost all the foreigners who joined Hapoel this season have left.
''At first they didn’t want me to go. But later they agreed it was the best thing for me to leave. They realised that I wasn’t happy or comfortable there so it was best to let me go.
''I’ve not been happy at all. Hearts was the place I felt at home and, throughout my career, that is the place I enjoyed most. Since I left, things have not been okay. It’s always in my memory, what it was like playing for Hearts.
''I don’t really know what happened or why I left. It seemed everything was going along well. I was happy there and I wanted to stay for a long time.
"At the end of the season, Jim Jefferies called me and said they were happy with me. He told me to go on holiday and he would get back to me, but he never got back in touch. I don’t know what happened after I left for holiday.â€
Kingston joined Vitesse Arnhem after leaving Heart of Midlothian in 2010.