Israeli journalist Amir Tibon was awarded the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature on Tuesday for The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal, Survival, and Hope in Israel’s Borderlands, his harrowing account of survival on Oct. 7. 

The Gates of Gaza is Tibon’s first-person account of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and Israel’s Gaza policies as a resident of the border’s region. On the day of the attack, he, along with his wife and their two young daughters, spent 10 hours hiding in the safe room of their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, less than a mile from Gaza, as terrorists rampaged through the community. 

In the book, Tibon details efforts by his father, a retired major general in the IDF, traveled from Tel Aviv by car to rescue the family, stopping numerous times along the war to assist others and fight groups of terrorists. The Gates of Gaza intersperses Tibon’s accounting of the day, his parents’ experiences and Israeli government policy regarding Gaza over the years.

“The mission of the Rohr Prize has never been more important,” Tibon, a reporter for Haaretz, said, “as we confront a rising tide of antisemitism around the globe and its unique ripples within the world of books and literature.”

The book also received the 2024 National Jewish Book Award, the Wingate Prize and the Bernstein Prize.

After evacuating the kibbutz, Tibon and his family have lived in northern Israel since the attacks.

The awards ceremony, to be held at the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem on July 28, will mark the 20-year anniversary of the prize, which comes with a $100,000 award. 

The Rohr Prize honors emerging contemporary writers whose work shows promising continuing contribution to literature in the Jewish sphere. The award annually alternates between fiction and nonfiction. 

Nonfiction authors Laura Hobson Faure, Shaul Kelner and Jordan Salama were on the shortlist of finalists for this year’s prize. Winners from previous years include Sasha Vasilyuk for her novel Your Presence is Mandatory, and Oren Kessler for his Palestine 1936.