Filipino caregiver saves herself, Israeli employer by paying off Hamas attacker

The Times of Israel has published a story about a Filipino caregiver in Israel, Camille Jesalva, who said she was able to save her life and that of her ward, 95-year-old Nitza Hefetz, on 7 October "by giving a Hamas terrorist who had broken into their Gaza border home the savings she had prepared for a planned trip to the Philippines two days later."

"I opened my wallet and told him to take everything I had, NIS 1,500 ($370), just to save myself and Nitza," Jesalva was quoted as telling the Ynet news site. "I showed him the plane ticket and asked him just not to take that."

Jesalva was planning a trip back to the Philippines to see her 7-year-old son, whom she has not seen for over a year.

According to the Times of Israel report, "The terrorist then asked if there was more money in the house, in Kibbutz Nirim, and walked around the property, with Jaslava, 31, behind him. He took Jesalva's smartphone and eventually left."

The report further quoted Jesalva as telling Ynet: "It's a miracle that I stayed alive. I told my mother that I was going to die, and I asked her to send me a picture of my son because I felt that I wouldn't get out of this alive."