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The October 7 War: Israel's Battle for Security in Gaza

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A firsthand account of the brutal Hamas attack and Israel’s battle for security.

A harrowing account on the frontlines of the war between Israel and Hamas, The October 7 War tells the story of how Hamas surprised Israel with its deadly attack, killing more than 1,000 people and kidnapping more than 250. With unparalleled access to the Israeli soldiers and units that faced the Hamas onslaught and their epic battle to defeat the terror group in Gaza, this is the story of the men and women who faced one of the world’s worst terror attacks and brought justice to its victims. It is also the story of how Hamas—backed by anti-Western and anti-Semitic forces around the globe—masterminded its attack and aspired to fire the first shot in a war to upset the US-led world order. The war against the terrorist group will determine the future of the Middle East.

From the battlegrounds in Gaza and the IDF strike cells using the latest in artificial intelligence, to the Israeli communities devastated by the fighting and trips to Israel’s frontlines against Hezbollah, this is the gripping story of how Israel suffered a surprise attack and recovered. The October 7 War is based on the author’s fifteen years of experience covering wars in Gaza, defense technology, and the rise of Iranian-backed terror in the Middle East.

348 pages, Paperback

Published July 23, 2024

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About the author

Seth J. Frantzman

3 books7 followers

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Displaying 1 - 9 of 10 reviews
Profile Image for Mario Noya.
5 reviews11 followers
September 20, 2024
The reference book on the 7-O massacre, extraordinarily documented. Truly essential.

El libro de referencia sobre la matanza del 7-O, extraordinariamente documentado. Verdaderamente imprescindible.
1 review
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November 7, 2024
Critical Review:

The book The October 7 War presents a highly biased and one-sided narrative about the events of October 7, where the author attempts to distort the facts and align the story with Israeli propaganda. The book claims that the attack was unprovoked and justifies subsequent actions by the Israeli military as 'self-defense,' while completely ignoring the historical and political context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, including occupation, displacement, and continuous aggression against Palestinians.

Throughout the book, the reader will notice significant logical fallacies, such as the marginalization of any mention of prior Israeli violations or the Palestinian people's right to resist occupation. The author clearly tries to reframe the 'Al-Aqsa Flood' operation to legitimize Israeli military actions against Palestinian civilians, actions which have been classified by human rights organizations as war crimes.

Overall, this book is merely a part of the Zionist propaganda campaign to justify violence against Palestinians, relying on selective storytelling and misinformation to mislead the reader.

Profile Image for Shawn.
Author 8 books49 followers
October 5, 2024
An important book insofar as it provides an important journalistic record of the first six months or so of the October 7 war. Frantzman condenses his interviews with many IDF soldiers, former hostages, and Israelis that survived that October 7 attack. These accounts are important to have on record.

Being published as quickly as it was, there are bound to be errors: both of fact and of grammar. The writing itself at times was a bit a staccato, sometimes repetitive, and the timeline wasn't always as clear as I would have liked. I think these were largely signs of the book being rushed to be published.

One of the things I most interesting in the book were the accounts of the new technologies and fighting tactics enabled by the former. Over the 6 months of fighting in Gaza, the IDF learned on the go to fight in new ways and with new technology. Frantzman does a good job of describing this.

The bigger picture analysis was probably the weakest part. That wasn't really the point of the book and in many ways it was too early in the process to get too much into that.
Profile Image for Ahmed Dergham.
1 review1 follower
November 21, 2024
This book is riddled with inaccuracies and logical fallacies that expose the author's overt bias in favor of a Zionist perspective on the Al-Aqsa Flood events. Through selective narratives, it distorts the reality of Palestinian resistance, attempting to paint the Israeli occupation as a victimized party. However, these events stem from over 75 years of occupation and oppression of Palestinian land. If the occupation does not forcibly displace the rightful inhabitants, it subjects them to violence and destruction. How can we ignore the undeniable evidence of genocide in Gaza, widely documented across all forms of media for nearly 400 days up to the writing of this review, and instead accept the book's misleading claims—claims that even Zionist media outlets have contested?
Profile Image for Joe.
244 reviews7 followers
October 17, 2024
An important history into October Seven… and the resulting war

This book is an important review of the intelligence failures that led to October 7, the resulting Hamas massacre, and the subsequent war in Gaza. You feel like you’re hearing the IDF front line perspectives mostly, which I appreciate.
Profile Image for Adam Hummel.
234 reviews6 followers
August 3, 2024
Excellent book full of fascinating detail from an amazing journalist.
Profile Image for Karl.
65 reviews
May 18, 2025
great primer for so much og the geopolitical intrigue in the region.
Profile Image for JenSen Yermi.
24 reviews4 followers
March 23, 2025
My first book about 2023 Israel-Palestine War, particularly the first 8 months. Too many missed opportunity for various reasons from wrong decision to Joe Biden's pressure but I'm satisfied for those thousands dead terrorists and devastation in Gaza. There are lots of stories and details from military units involved in this war. It would be helpful if this book provide more maps and order of battle of IDF.
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