The Gates of Gaza

“At first there was only a whistle. A short, loud shriek coming through our bedroom window, indicating the descent of a mortar from the skies above our house.” It is the morning of 7 October 2023 at the Nahal Oz kibbutz, an Israeli settlement close to the border with the Gaza Strip. Miri Tibon wakes up her husband, Amir. Together with their two small daughters, they barricade themselves in the safe room of their house. They softly urge the girls not to cry while they hear guns being fired by the Hamas aggressors in front of their windows.

“The Gates of Gaza” tells the story of 7 October 2023 through the prism of the events that fell on the Tibon family in Nahal Oz, who were eventually rescued by Amir Tibon’s father in an incredibly courageous effort. In his eponymous book, Tibon describes a community’s decade-long struggle for survival, wealth and growth on one of the world’s most dangerous borders. It is also a short history of Israel, chronicling the failure of Israel’s politics to guarantee the safety of its population. Based on Israeli and Palestinian sources and original interviews with the soldiers and police officers who fought alongside his parents on 7 October 2023, Amir Tibon presents his unsparing but eventually hopeful view of this seemingly unresolvable conflict and its global effects. The material makes for a deeply unsettling theatre night, directed by Nuran David Calis.

Amir Tibon, born in 1989, is a journalist and writer. He is a correspondent for the Israeli daily newspaper “Haaretz”. In 2017, he published “The Last Palestinian: The Rise and Reign of Mahmoud Abbas” (together with Grant Rumley), the first biography of Palestinian leader Abbas. Amir and Miri Tibon are currently living in northern Israel with their daughters.

Nuran David Calis, head of the drama division, is best known for his reinterpretations of classics and for his contemporary documentary theatre work. After having staged several productions in Salzburg as a guest, he is now presenting his first production in his new function at Stage 24: a work developed together with the ensemble. Once again, he collaborates with his tried and tested team for music as well as stage and costume design.