If you didn't want to read a history like Khalidi's Hundred Years War, this book will answer you quickly if you want to know about Oct 7, is it about Hamas, are both sides to blame, what's the deal with Israel and Palestinians anyway. Refaat Alareer's personal account and recollections of past Israeli aggression should cover most of the basics, the unvarnished truth, in a way you likely haven't heard before if you are a CNN, NPR, NYT, Washington Post consumer.  The human element is missing from those reports, but supplied in full in If I Must Die.

This gutted me:
 The last two chapters are transcribed from voice notes posthumously. It's devastating. He talks about kindness despite the devastation, helping his students even as his home is bombed, & kindness begetting kindness. They killed him. US indifference & money and Israel's barbarity. We killed him. His only weapon was an Expo marker. 

Please buy it and read it.