Yaacov Lozowick's Gaza War Journal

 Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th 2023. On October 9th I wrote a report on the events, for family and friends outside Israel. A few days later I wrote a 2nd report, and eventually, 19 of them. Mostly I was trying to record for myself what we Israelis were going through, and trying to make sense of the events. On May 2nd 2025 I published a long update, a year after the series ended. This website contains the full series. Readers can start at the earliest blogpost and read forward, or pick and choose from this table of contents: Day Three of the War with Hamas October 15th 2024: Second Report October 24th, 2023: Third Report November 15th, 2023: Fourth Report Reports 5-6 were mostly pictures, and for technical reasons I haven't uploaded them here November 27th, 2023 - 7th Report: Civilian Hostages Returning December 3rd, 2023 - 8th Report: Fuad December 13th, 2023 - 9th Report: Soldiers December 20th, 2023 - 10th Reports: Hostages December 31st, 2023 - 11th Report: Patriots Janua...

Report number twenty: A year later It’s been a year since I last wrote, and things have largely gotten worse. Not everything, mind you. Iran’s Ring of Fire around us is mostly gone, and that’s good. Yet if our internal strife doesn’t get resolved somehow, I’m no longer convinced our long-term existence is assured. The other day Ronen Bar, the chief of the Shabak, sort of Israel’s counterpart to the FBI, submitted a sworn affidavit to the supreme court explaining why Netanyahu’s attempt to fire him should be blocked, even as Bar admits that he must soon resign because of his failure to warn and protect us on October 7 th . The affidavit may be the most troubling document ever produced by an Israeli official – and I’ve seen tens of thousands of official records. Bar describes how Netanyahu has been trying to subvert Israeli democracy; and use the secret police to harm his political opponents and also to short-circuit his own criminal trial; and hamper freedom of the press; and obstru...