On October 17th, mourners gathered in Gav Yavne for the funeral of the Kutzes, a family of five who where killed at their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, during the attack that Hamas named the Al-Aqsa Flood.
The only way to tell this story is to try to tell it truthfully and to know that you will fail.
On the evening of Wednesday, October 18th, with the entire Middle East in a state of mourning and outrage, I took a taxi to the information offices of the Israel Defense Forces, a heavily guarded compound in northwest Tel Aviv. Like many reporters, I’d accepted an invitation to see video evidence of the worst massacre of Jews in generations, certainly in the history of Israel—Hamas’s rampage through Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Kibbutz Be’eri, and other communities near the Gaza Strip, extending to an outdoor electronic- music festival, Nova. At last count, the attack throughout what Israelis call Otef Aza—“the Gaza envelope”—had claimed some fourteen hundred lives; thousands were wounded, and around two hundred and twenty people had been kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip. Hamas gave the operation a name, the Al-Aqsa Flood.
This story is from the November 06, 2023 edition of The New Yorker.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 06, 2023 edition of The New Yorker.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
HOLIDAY PUNCH
\"Cult of Love\" on. Broadway and \"No President\" at the Skirball.
THE ARCHIVIST
Belle da Costa Greene's hidden story.
OCCUPY PARADISE
How radical was John Milton?
CHAOS THEORY
What professional organizers know about our lives.
UP FROM URKEL
\"Family Matters\" and Jaleel White's legacy.
OUTSIDE MAN
How Brady Corbet turned artistic frustration into an American epic.
STIRRING STUFF
A secret history of risotto.
NOTE TO SELVES
The Sonoran Desert, which covers much of the southwestern United States, is a vast expanse of arid earth where cartoonish entities-roadrunners, tumbleweeds, telephone-pole-tall succulents make occasional appearances.
THE ORCHESTRA IS THE STAR
The Berlin Philharmonic doesn't need a domineering maestro.
HEAD CASE
Paul Valéry's ascetic modernism.