The Killing of Gaza Reports on a Catastrophe

Reportage from the frontline of the crisis in the Middle East from a leading Israeli journalist

Gideon Levy is one of the most respected critics of Israel's apartheid policies against the Palestinian people. He is the outspoken award-winning journalist who has been writing on the conflict for decades.

In The Killing of Gaza he brings together his on-the-ground perspectives of the events leading up to the October 7th attack and the ensuing devastation of Gaza.

His clear-eyed analysis is a vital aperture into current events but he also brings essential historical and political context to the moment. He is unafraid to speak truth to power, and his work is an urgent rebuttal to the propaganda that is distributed through the mainstream press throughout the world.

Levy's words should be read by anyone who wants to get the heart of this most brutal conflict and see for themselves that silence is no longer possible in the face of such atrocity.

Gideon Levy is an Israeli journalist, born in Tel Aviv. He has written regularly for Haaretz. He has won a number of humanitarian awards for his work on the Israel/Palestine conflict including the Olaf Palme award in 2016 and in 2021, Israel's top award for Journalism, the Sokolov Award. He is the author of The Punishment of Gaza.

Introduction: Catastrophe Report

PART I
2014
1. What Were We Thinking? July 10
2. Death to Arabs July 13
3. What Does Hamas Want? July 20
4. Go to Gaza, See for Yourself August 10
5. War, What War? September 18
2015
6. A Futile Report June 25
7. No Picnic, No Tragedy July 2
2016
8. It’s Never Israel’s Fault: Two Gazan Children Are Dead and Their Story Goes Untold March 17
9. If Gazans Don’t Fire, No One Listens June 1
10. Broken Families in Limbo July 8
2017
11. The Wall of Insanity August 13
12. Sacred Sovereignty November 2
2018
13. Strangling Gaza April 5
14. Bleeding in the Sand April 24
15. In the Field of Philistia May 18
16. We Should Be Saluting the Gaza Strip July 15
2019
17. “It Would Be More Convenient If We’d Died” June 7
18. “My Future Turned Black” July 12
19. The Trial of “Inmate X” October 18
2020
20. Happy New Year, Gaza 2 January
21. Nobody Opposes the War May 16
2021
22. One Image, 2 Million People October 10
23. Congratulations: The Gaza Ghetto Now Has a Fence Around It December 9
2022
24. The Only Way March 31
25. The War of Change and Healing August 7
26. When Roger Waters Cried August 11
27. An Election for Whites Only October 30
2023
28. The People of Israel Will Remember Its Children April 23
29. I Was Wrong About Netanyahu May 11
30. Do You Really Want to Go On Living Like This? May 14

PART II
OCTOBER
31. Israel Can’t Imprison Two Million Gazans Without Paying a Cruel Price October 9
32. The Reckoning Must Be with Hamas, Not with All Gazans October 12
33. A Bloodcurdling Visit to Israel’s South After the Hamas Attack Evokes ISIS and Ukraine October 14
34. On Kibbutz Be’eri, Time Stood Still: Traces of the Life Before the Massacre October 19
35. It Is Forbidden to Even Empathize with Innocent Gazans October 26
36. Northern Inexposure: Former “Peace” on Lebanon Border Replaced by Deathly Silence October 29
NOVEMBER
37. These Are the Children Extracted After the Bombardment of Gaza’s Jabalya Refugee Camp November 2
38. If We Can’t See the Eyes of Gaza’s Dead Children, Can We See Children at All? November 5
39. If Israel Resists Examining Its Own Failures, Another War Awaits Us November 9
40. A Population Transfer Under the Cover of War: A Visit to the Forsaken Land of Settler Militias November 18
41. Giora Eiland’s Monstrous Gaza Proposal Is Evil in Plain Sight November 23
42. Forty-Two Palestinians Killed in Seven Weeks: A Visit to a West Bank City That Has Become a Firing Zone November 25
43. Is It Permissible to Rejoice in the Joy of Palestinians Released from Israeli Prisons? November 26
DECEMBER
44. While War Rages in Gaza, Israeli Troops and Settlers Grow Trigger-Happy in Ramallah December 2
45. Israel Has Turned Its Back on the Hostages in Favor of Destroying Gaza December 2
46. The Israeli Army’s Incursions Are More Frequent and Violent. The Jenin Refugee Camp Is Now Little Gaza December 8
47. By Trying to Humiliate Gaza to Its Core, Israel Is the One Being Humiliated December 10
48. If Settler Violence Wasn’t Enough, Israel Is Now Depriving Jordan Valley Palestinians of Water December 16
49. Would Israel Be Any Different without Netanyahu? December 21
50. A Disabled Palestinian Was Carrying a Bag of Lollipops When He Was Shot by Israeli Troops December 23
51. When Israel Abuses the Hostages That It Holds December 23
52. There’s No Way to “Explain” the Degree of Death and Destruction in Gaza December 28
53. The Legitimization of Evil Will Remain with Israelis Long After the War in Gaza Ends December 31
2024
JANUARY
54. No Israeli Soldiers Have Stood Up and Refused to Participate in This Evil War January 3
55. Someone in Israel’s Army Decided to Bring This Quiet West Bank Area into the Circle of Violence January 5
56. Palestinians in Gaza Are Being Held Hostage by Israel and Hamas January 11
57. If It Isn’t a Genocide in Gaza, Then What Is It? January 14
58. The Gaza I Loved Will Never Be the Same January 24
59. Israel’s Mainstream Brought Us to The Hague, Not Its Lunatic Fringes January 28
FEBRUARY
60. Israel’s Dignity Will Be Damaged, Hamas Will Be Crowned Winner, but the War Will End February 7
61. Israeli Border Police Killed a 4-Year-Old Palestinian Girl, Then Took 10 Days to Return Her Body February 10
62. An Israeli Incursion into Gaza’s Rafah Will Be an Unprecedented Humanitarian Catastrophe February 11
63. With the “Perfect” Hostage Rescue Operation, Israel’s Dehumanization of Palestinians in Gaza Reached a New Low February 14
64. Palestinian Teens Are Writing Wills, and for Good Reason February 17
65. The World Must Force Peace on Israel February 18
66. Israel Is Blaming Everyone but Itself for Its Own Disgrace February 22
67. Israel Has No Real Alternative to Netanyahu February 25
MARCH
68. Gaza’s Night of Death and Hunger March 3
69. After 150 Days of Death and Destruction in Gaza, Israel Is Neither Stronger Nor Safer March 7
70. Israeli Soldiers Shot Two Brothers to Death, a Third Is Wounded and a Fourth Is Arrested March 8
71. When Israel Becomes Like Hamas March 10
72. Israeli Leftists, Shake Off the Shock of October 7 and Open Your Eyes to Gaza March 13

Afterword