How a year of Israel-Hamas war disrupted lives. And, key factors for Michigan voters

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One year ago today, Hamas launched an ambush attack on Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking hostages. This unleashed the deadliest war in Palestinian history. According to the Gaza health ministry, at least 41,000 people in Gaza have been killed by Israeli airstrikes and fire. Now, Israel is bombing Hezbollah in Lebanon.

• 🎧 In Israel, NPR’s Daniel Estrin attended a memorial at 6:29 a.m. —  the minute an attack was launched at a music festival where more than 360 people were killed. He tells Up First that organizers played the very last track of music heard at the festival before it was attacked. There was a moment of silence and then someone in the crowd wailed. Ofir Duchovne, whose close friend was killed in the attack, tells Estrin that one year later, he cannot wake up from the nightmare.
• 🎧 “In Gaza, there’s no moment for standing in silence or reflection,” NPR’s Aya Batrawy says. Women struggle to find sanitary pads and there’s no running water. With no schools, kids are forgetting how to read and write. People are dying in hospitals because there isn't enough fuel to keep life support machines running. Israel says its operations are aimed at Hamas, but Palestinians say they are terrorized by advanced fighter jets and drones every day and night.

Hear directly from people in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank as they describe how one year of this war has upended their lives. For more coverage marking this anniversary, check out NPR's special series page.

The war in the Middle East is personal in the swing state of Michigan. The GOP and Democrats are focused on the Arab and Muslim American voting bloc, and the state has the largest Lebanese American population in the country. Many in the state have families living in the areas of Lebanon that are being bombed right now.

• 🎧 Many voters tell NPR's Leila Fadel that they've turned away from Democrats because the U.S. government is sending weapons to Israel to use in Gaza and has helped Israel expand its offensive into Lebanon. Yemeni American Samra Luqman tells Fadel she endorses Trump and adds that whatever rights Trump limits, it didn’t bring with it a year’s worth of death and destruction. Most Arab Americans say they’re either backing third-party candidate Jill Stein or possibly not voting at all because they don’t believe the candidates value their or their families’ lives.

A new report has found that both Harris’ and Trump's economic plans would increase the national debt. According to the nonpartisan nonprofit Committee for Responsible Federal Budget, Trump's plan would add an estimated $7.5 trillion to the nation's debt over the next decade, while Harris' proposals would cost the government an estimated $3.5 trillion. The committee has cautioned that there could be a future fiscal crisis if politicians do not take more decisive action on the national debt. Let's take a closer look at the details of both economic plans.

We, the voters

NPR is visiting six key swing states that will likely decide this year’s historic election. This week, Morning Edition is in Michigan to listen to voters about what matters to them and how that will affect their vote.

Michigan, a “blue wall” state, is part of Vice President Harris’ clearest path to the White House. But the victory won’t be easy. Harris and former President Donald Trump remain in a close battle. Here are key factors that could decide which way Michigan swings:

• 🗳️ Voters in the state care most about the economy, abortion and immigration. Michigan enshrined abortion and reproductive health rights in its constitution two years ago.
• 🗳️ Michigan has suffered for decades from a decline in automobile manufacturing and high interest rates constricting the sale of cars.
• 🗳️ Arab and Muslim voters largely supported Biden in 2020, but have since felt alienated by how he has handled the Israel-Gaza war.

Behind the story

This essay was written by Daniel Estrin, NPR's international correspondent in Jerusalem.

“The day still keeps surprising us,” my colleague Anas Baba in Gaza texted me last Oct. 7, close to midnight.

I was at a hospital in southern Israel. The waiting room was full of parents in a daze, waiting for word about their children who had come under attack at an outdoor techno rave near the Gaza border. In Gaza, our producer Anas was taking photos of families fleeing their homes as Israeli airstrikes rained down.

It was the deadliest day in Israeli history. It sparked the deadliest war in Palestinian history. One year later, it has grown into a regional war. Every day keeps surprising us.

A year later, I find myself thinking about where the survivors and witnesses of this war draw strength.

I think about Batya Ofir, a woman my colleague Itay Stern and I met the other day at Kibbutz Be’eri, the Israeli village that suffered the greatest loss — 102 people there were killed. Her brother was killed along with his family. She felt survivor’s guilt, and she told us she asked herself whether she wanted to keep on living.

“I really thought about it. And then I decided that I wanted to continue to live,” she said. Today, she is learning how to kayak in the sea to help her face her fears. “I do everything to give some meaning to life now that they're gone.”

Our colleague Anas Baba in Gaza has been reporting for NPR in Gaza all year. Again and again, he has videotaped bodies brought into the morgue after Israeli airstrikes. He always trains his camera on young children, sheltering near the morgue, standing alone and watching silently as bodies are laid out.

What gives him strength, he said, is collecting biscuits and fruit to give to the children he meets. “I can help them survive,” he told me.

He often meets a young girl named Habiba at the hospital in central Gaza. She’s been colorblind since birth. One day, she told Anas she saw a man drowning with water coming out of his nose. It wasn't water; it was blood.

“This girl does not know the color of blood,” Anas told me. “I wish all the children in Gaza were colorblind now.”

3 things to know before you go

1. Online dictionary Merriam-Webster.com, has updated its database with 200 new words and phrases, including "touch grass" and "MAGA."
2. In 2023, Corey Widmer's car broke down in the middle of a busy intersection while he was on the way to get his car checked. This is when his unsung heroes helped him through the nightmarish situation. A man asking for money at a median helped him move the car to the side of the road. Men in another car helped him restart the stalled vehicle.
3. A crucial loan program designed to help disaster victims will run out of money within weeks, President Biden said in a letter sent to Congress on Friday. This comes at a time when Americans affected by Hurricane Helene urgently need relief.

This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.