Author(s): Amir Tibon

World Current Affairs | Non-Fiction October 2024

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. '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 Praise for The Last Palestinian- 'The Last Palestinian is a gripping story, compellingly told. It is required reading for anybody who wants to understand the crisis of the Palestinian national movement and the failure of the peace process.' -Walter Russell Mead, Distinguished Scholar at Hudson Institute and author of Special Providence 'This is a serious political biography of a man whose life embodies the hopes, challenges, struggles, and failures of the Palestinian national struggle. An important account for anyone wishing to understand the history, evolution, and politics of Palestinian peacemaking.' -Robert Danin, Council on Foreign Relations and Harvard Kennedy School, former Head of the Office of the Quartet Representative, Jerusalem