Autorentext

Amir Tibon is an award-winning diplomatic correspondent for Haaretz, Israel's paper of record, and the author of The Last Palestinian: the rise and reign of Mahmoud Abbas (co-authored with Grant Rumley), the first-ever biography of the leader of the Palestinian Authority. From 20172020, Tibon was based in Washington, DC, as a foreign correspondent for Haaretz, and he also has served as a senior editor for the newspaper's English edition. He, his wife, and their two young daughters are former residents of Kibbutz Nahal Oz but are currently living as internal refugees in northern Israel.

Klappentext

'Superb. A visceral, heartbreaking, and powerful account - with personal testimonies and deep research - of the October 7 Hamas invasion, massacres, and atrocities committed that day. Essential reading for anyone who wants to know what exactly happened.' Simon Sebag Montefiore

The gripping, true story of how leading Israeli journalist Amir Tibon, along with his wife and their two young children, were rescued on 7 October 2023 by Tibon's father - an incredible tale of survival that also reveals the tensions and failures that led to Hamas's attacks that day.

On that fateful day, Tibon and his wife were awakened by mortar rounds exploding near their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, a progressive Israeli settlement along the Gaza border. Soon, they were holding their two young daughters in the family's reinforced safe room, urging them not to cry while they all listened to the gunfire from Hamas attackers outside their windows. With his mobile phone battery running low, Amir texted his father: 'They're here.'

Some 45 miles to the north, on the shores of Tel Aviv, Amir's parents saw the news at the same time as they received Amir's note. Immediately, they jumped in their car and raced toward Nahal Oz, armed only with a pistol - but intent on saving their family at all costs.

In The Gates of Gaza, Tibon tells his family's harrowing story, describing their terrifying ordeal - and the bravery that led to their rescue - alongside the histories of the place they call home and the systems of power that have kept them and their neighbours in Gaza in harm's way for decades. With sensitivity, and drawing on Israeli and Palestinian sources, Tibon offers an unsparing but ultimately hopeful view of this seemingly intractable conflict and its global reverberations.