Book about Oct. 7 rescue mission wins prestigious Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature

“The Gates of Gaza” previously won the 2024 National Jewish Book Award and is also the winner of the 2026 Wingate Prize and Bernstein Prize.

By Shiryn Ghermezian, The Algemeiner

A book by Haaretz journalist Amir Tibon about the true story of how his father, a retired IDF major general, helped rescue the author’s family during the Hamas-led terrorist attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, was named the winner of the 2026 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature on Tuesday.

Established in 2007 to honor the legacy of Jewish-American philanthropist Sami Rohr, the annual $100,000 prize is presented to an emerging writer who “demonstrates the potential for continued contribution to the world of Jewish literature.”

The acclaimed award was given this year to Tibon’s novel, “The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal, Survival, and Hope in Israel’s Borderlands.”

“Receiving this award is an incredible honor, and a reminder that two-and-a-half years after Oct. 7, the task of telling that day’s story, alongside the history that led to it and the terrible consequences it unleashed, is still upon us,” Tibon wrote in a post on X.

“I’m grateful to the judging panel for choosing to recognize my work at this crucial moment.”

He also applauded the Sami Rohr Prize for “supporting, celebrating, and lifting Jewish writers from all corners of the world,” and said its mission “has never been more important, as we battle new waves of antisemitism globally and their unique ripples within the world of books and literature.”

“The Gates of Gaza” previously won the 2024 National Jewish Book Award, and is also the winner of the 2026 Wingate Prize and Bernstein Prize. It was published in 2024 by Little, Brown, and Company.

On the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, Tibon and his wife woke up to the sounds of mortar rounds exploding near their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip.

They hid with their two young daughters in their home’s reinforced safe room while Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists went on a deadly rampage outside.

Roughly 45 miles north, Amir’s father jumped in his Jeep and drove toward Nahal Oz with the hopes of saving his family.

In “The Gates of Gaza,” Tibon detailed how his father, former IDF major general Noam Tibon, fought off the terrorists who invaded Kibbutz Nahal Oz and rescued his son, daughter-in-law, and two young granddaughters.

“He describes his family’s ordeal and the bravery that ultimately led to their rescue — alongside the histories of the place they call home and the systems of power that have kept them and their neighbors in Gaza in harm’s way for decades,” according to a description of the book.

Nahal Oz was among the Gaza border communities hit the hardest in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

Fifteen of its members were murdered and eight others were taken captive, including a community member killed in captivity in Gaza.

Noam has appeared on both “NBC Dateline” and “60 Minutes” to talk about his efforts to rescue two generations of his family from Nahal Oz during the Hamas-orchestrated terrorist attack.

His rescue mission is also highlighted in the documentary “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” which won the People’s Choice Award for best documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, after being dropped from the festival and then reinvited.

The award ceremony for the 2026 Sami Rohr Prize is scheduled to take place on July 28 in Jerusalem.