Q&A LEE YARON

With 10/7, the professional became profoundly personal.

- MEREDITH WOLF SCHIZER

Q _ How did researching and writing this book affect you personally?
A _ My aunt and uncle live in Ofakim, a small and impoverished town in Israel near the Gaza border. Despite enduring rocket attacks for nearly two decades, many homes in Ofakim still lack shelters. Residents typically seek shelter in public shelters, which on 10/7 made them easy targets for Hamas terrorists. Forty-nine people were murdered in Ofakim that day. Too accustomed to rocket attacks to seek shelter, my family stayed at home—and lived. Exactly two months later, I was in the middle of interviewing Eliana Suissa, the mother of Dolev Suissa, for this book, when I received the news that one of my dearest friends, Gal Eizenkot, had been killed in Gaza during a hostage rescue mission. The professional distance I always try to maintain suddenly vanished. I found myself on the other side of grief’s divide, among the people I’d been documenting. It was agonizing to immerse myself so deeply in these stories. There were days when it felt almost unbearable. Yet at the same time, writing this book ultimately gave me strength and purpose and saved me from despair. This book is my attempt to reclaim the stories of 10/7 from those who created the crisis and return it to

In the chapter about Kibbutz Be’eri, you include narratives about what happened to some hostages while in captivity— some of whom have since been freed. What sources did you use to tell these stories?