‘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.
‘The Gates of Gaza flawlessly weaves history and adventure together so the reader — although we know there was a successful outcome — is still gripped with fear for the Tibon family, trapped for 10 hours in the safe room of their kibbutz home. It is the stuff of nightmares.’
Jenni Frazer, Jewish News
‘This is an important book. To say [The Gates of Gaza] is gripping is an understatement; it reads like a thriller … My heart was in my mouth … This personal and very painful book should disabuse anyone of the notion that there are easy answers for the Jewish state.’
Jennifer Lipman, The Jewish Chronicle
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‘The Gates of Gaza flawlessly weaves history and adventure together so the reader – although we know there was a successful outcome – is still gripped with fear for the Tibon family, trapped for 10 hours in the safe room of their kibbutz home. It is the stuff of nightmares.’
Jenni Frazer, Jewish News
‘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, author of The World: a family history of humanity
‘More than an account of horror, Amir Tibon’s riveting book is a story of courage. Tibon’s extraordinary family and community offer a glimpse into Israel's resilience, and help explain why it may be premature to despair over the hope for peace.’
Yossi Klein Halevi, senior fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute, and author of Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor
‘In The Gates of Gaza, Amir Tibon recounts both his own story of rescue on October 7, as well as the complicated history of the Israeli–Gaza border region that he calls home. He is a chronicler, an observer, and a participant in this story, which he tells with real emotional power.’
Anne Applebaum, author of Red Famine
‘Amir Tibon has captured the horror and hope of October 7 in this compelling story of Hamas’ murderous rampage across southern Israel, of his family’s agonising experience in their safe room while terrorists roamed outside, and of the heroism of his father, Noam, who came to their rescue. The Gates of Gaza would be an engrossing read if it were fiction; the fact that it is a true story is simply extraordinary.’
Daniel Kurtzer, former US Ambassador to Israel and Egypt
‘A riveting minute by minute account of one of Israel’s darkest days, Amir Tibon’s telling of his family’s horrific ordeal — hiding for hours while terrorists overtook his kibbutz — is captivating. His father’s heroic mission to rescue them, woven together with the storied and bloodied history of the kibbutz, makes for a remarkable read.’
Bianna Golodryga, Anchor and Senior Global Affairs Analyst, CNN
‘Amir Tibon survived the October 7th Hamas attack on his kibbutz thanks to his father, who jumped in a car, drove south from Tel Aviv — dodging rockets and bullets — and pulled off a daring rescue of Amir and his young family. As a newspaper journalist, Amir brings a reporter’s eye to this vivid, truthful, and at times emotional account — not only of the fear and terror of that day, but also of life along the Israeli border with Gaza, and of the struggle between the Jews and Palestinians. The Gates of Gaza is both sweeping and deeply personal; it is grand and granular, historic and suspenseful, compassionate and wise.’
Lesley Stahl, correspondent, 60 Minutes
‘Eloquently sums up the personal, national and historical tragedies endured by the Israeli people on the darkest day since the country’s founding … Tibon also methodically lays out the sequence of political and strategic events that brought the country to that nightmare point, as well as the gruelling war that has lasted nearly a year.’
Ruth Marks Eglash, Jewish Insider
‘Powerfully tells the heart-stopping story of one family on one kibbutz — his own — interweaving it with the larger history that brought them to that morning in October.’
Yehudah Mirsky, UnHerd
‘Extraordinary … multifaceted … a gripping account.’
Jewish Renaissance
