Ezra's Bookshelf

The Gates of Gaza

by Amir Tibon · 354 pages · ~6.5 hrs

HistoryForeign Policy

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Amir Tibon, a diplomatic correspondent for Haaretz, was home with his family on Kibbutz Nahal Oz when Hamas launched its October 7, 2023 attack. As gunmen moved through the kibbutz, Tibon and his wife barricaded themselves with their two young daughters, communicating with his father, a retired general, who gathered a group to rescue them. The book combines this harrowing first-person survival narrative with investigation into the intelligence and military failures that allowed the attack to succeed. Tibon examines how Israeli security services missed warnings, how the military response was fatally delayed, and how the political situation in the months preceding the attack contributed to vulnerability. He also provides historical context, tracing the Gaza conflict from Hamas's rise through the blockade and periodic escalations. Writing as both participant and journalist, Tibon maintains analytical distance while conveying the terror of those hours. The book grapples with what the attack revealed about Israeli assumptions and what it means for the conflict's future. For readers seeking to understand October 7 through the eyes of someone who lived it while maintaining journalistic standards, this account is essential.

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