How we got to October 7: Amir Tibon on Netanyahu, Gaza, and the day that shattered Israel

Haaretz Podcast

Amir Tibon will never forget what it felt like to be hunkered down in his safe room with his wife and two young daughters for hours on end, listening to the sound of Hamas terrorists on a murderous rampage in his neighborhood, Kibbutz Nahal Oz on the Gaza border, on October 7.

"You're on automatic pilot. You're hearing gunfire inside your house," he recalled. "You're locked inside with two very young girls, and you're just operating in the situation, trying to keep the girls calm and quiet and reserved, trying to keep yourself calm and quiet and reserved, because if we were to exhibit any signs of distress, the girls would immediately see it."

On the Haaretz Podcast, Tibon discussed the dramatic rescue of his family carried out by his father, retired IDF general Noam Tibon, a story he shares in his new book, "The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal, Survival and Hope on Israel's Borderlands."

The book fuses his personal story with that of Israel and Gaza, sharing the 70-year history of his home of Nahal Oz – the closest Israeli community to Gaza – and the steps that led to the war that is still grinding on today, a year after it began.

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