Book Review: The Killing of Gaza by Gideon Levy

Title: The Killing of Gaza

Author: Gideon Levy

Publisher:

Date of Publication: October 1, 2024

Purchase: Amazon (affiliate link)

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Gideon Levy’s The Killing of Gaza is a meticulously documented and harrowing chronicle of life and death in one of the most volatile regions on Earth. A collection of dispatches originally published in Haaretz, the book offers an unflinching portrayal of the human toll exacted by decades of siege, violence, and systemic dehumanization. With a journalist’s precision and a humanitarian’s heart, Levy turns his lens on Gaza, exposing its despair, resilience, and the cyclical violence that defines its existence.

The book opens with the catastrophic events of October 7, 2023, a day that changed the trajectory of the region and set the stage for the relentless violence that follows. Levy’s narrative is deeply personal yet rigorously factual, capturing the shockwaves of air-raid sirens in Tel Aviv and the collective trauma of a nation. Yet, his focus quickly shifts to the lesser-seen side of the border: Gaza, where destruction unfolds on an incomprehensible scale. This duality—Israel’s grief and Gaza’s agony—is central to Levy’s account, laying bare the asymmetrical nature of the conflict.

Levy spares no detail in his descriptions of the suffering endured by Gaza’s inhabitants. His recollections of visiting Gaza in the years before it became off-limits to Israeli journalists resonate with deep empathy and sorrow. From the nursery children who witnessed their teacher’s death to families obliterated by airstrikes, Levy portrays lives upended by a relentless siege. These stories are not merely statistics; they are vivid, haunting reminders of humanity lost amid geopolitical posturing.