Many of us saw the Hamas-led assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, from halfway across the world, and despite the distance, the crisis struck a chord. Soon, harrowing images emerged of Israeli soldiers carrying victims wrapped in body bags and homes left in ruin. Those images have been seared into our memories, but imagine seeing the devastation firsthand. For some, like Israel Defense Forces officer Maya Bentwich, these events literally hit close to home, and life will never be the same.
Bentwich, who was in Tel Aviv at the time of the attack, went down to Southern Israel two and a half weeks after the incident as part of the IDF reserve service. Once there, she gave tours of the ravaged communities along the Gaza border to show outsiders the horror of that day. Visitors have included everyone from celebrities like actress Debra Messing to political figures such as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner.
Now, as part of the IDF’s spokesperson unit, she has a new mission: to combat “the war of misinformation” surrounding that tragic day. “People need to hear the truth,” she tells us.
While the ensuing conflict between Israel and Hamas has become a divisive issue even here in the U.S., the opposition toward the Oct. 7 attack itself has drawn surprising support from both sides. According to a new poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, most Gazans (57 percent) think October 7 was wrong, compared to 39 percent who believed the opposite.
In an emotional conversation, Bentwich reflected on the attacks and how she has personally been affected by the ongoing war that now threatens the entire region of the Middle East.
Katie Couric Media: Where were you on Oct. 7 and what do you remember from that day?
Capt. Maya Bentwich: When [the attacks] happened, I was in my apartment in Tel Aviv. It took me a day to understand what was going on. Even now as we’re speaking, I can’t comprehend that this happened a year ago.
But I realized I had to be in the Army, so I started my reserve service a few days after the war started. I helped set up a donations base, but one of my main thoughts was, “There’s going to be another war going on — a war of misinformation.”
So I then joined the IDF spokesperson’s unit and ended up going down south to see where the atrocities took place about two and a half weeks after the invasion by Hamas.
I wasn’t there when there were still bodies all over the place, but I could see blood in all of the houses. I didn’t know what death smelled like until that point.
Everything was broken and ruined. I felt like [I had a mission] to be there and tell the story of what happened, so I stayed in the Gaza envelope as a face of the IDF and we started doing these visits in the kibbutz. [We knew that] telling the story and bringing people to see what happened was important because seeing it with your own eyes is completely different than seeing videos or photos.
Can you tell me more about this kibbutz — or community — that was attacked that you’re giving tours of?
People who reside in the Gaza envelope — it’s not a settlement, that’s important to note — are used to living under fire. Then on Oct. 7, they woke up to the sound of alarms. While that wasn’t unfamiliar to them, they quickly realized this was something on a whole other scale, very different from what they’ve ever known — what we’ve ever known. The alarms were nonstop, and people were hiding inside their mamads, which is what we call a safe room. But these are only meant to protect you from bombs and missiles — not from terrorists.
At about approximately 7 a.m., they heard yelling and gunshots outside their houses. I don’t know if anyone can fully grasp or understand the situation; people were fighting for their lives inside what was supposed to be the safest part of their homes. Some of the terrorists pretended to be IDF soldiers so they could lure people out. Later on, they set a lot of the houses on fire.
These were civilians; this was not military versus military. We know that these militants of Hamas are a terror organization. They went about murdering, raping, sexually assaulting, and kidnapping civilians in their houses. We’re talking about babies, children, women, elderly — age didn’t matter. We’re almost a year in today, and we still have a hundred and one hostages being held right now in Gaza.
You said that you’re now fighting a war on misinformation. Can you elaborate on that?
After October 7, some people didn’t believe that it actually happened — they thought it was AI-generated or staged.
This happened in the kibbutz that my close friend lived in her entire life. Her parents were murdered inside the safe room, and the walls were stained the color of blood. Their bodies were identified three weeks after October 7, because there were no remains. And this, by the way, happened a lot — bodies were burned to the extent that there were no remains. All that we had to identify them with was mainly teeth or little bone fragments we had left.
At one point, we had a reporter come to see the kibbutz and say, “You’re talking about dead babies, so show me a dead baby.” And I was at a loss of words — but I feel I have no choice but to tell the story [of what happened that day].
How are you personally coping with everything that you’ve witnessed?
On a personal level, this is something that I’m still battling with. My boyfriend is in Gaza right now, protecting us because we have no other choice.
I think one of the things that I’m still coping with is the fact that I feel like it’s not completely my story, but it has become my story. So, in a sense, it’s the story of Israel, of the state of Israel, of the Jewish people, of anyone who was here — we’re all connected.
At the end of the day, it was human beings that did this to other human beings. And from my perspective, it’s not just about being an Israeli or being Jewish; it’s about being a human being on this planet.
Israel and Hezbollah have said that conflict has entered “a new phase” amid escalating attacks. Are you hopeful for another hostage deal?
I have hope, and no one could ever take it away from me, even though it was shattered a few times over the past year with everything that we’ve gone through. I also think we have to take action in speaking up and doing everything that we can to bring the hostages back home because we don’t know if these 101 hostages are dead or alive, but we now know the conditions they were being held in.
We’re talking about civilians that were taken from their houses. We have kids who are still being held there, and this is almost a year. We need to do everything that we can to bring them back home.
It’s unimaginable that a year has passed since they were taken hostage in the attacks. And if there’s any strong message that I would like to tell people, it’s to remind people that October 7 happened. But, in many senses, it’s still happening.
Hamas is stating very clearly that Israel is not the only place and the West is next. What happened should shake people up and should get them to understand that it’s not just some foreign country far away.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
