PBBM meets with freed OFW Hamas captive, survivor
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. personally met with overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) Jimmy Pacheco and Camille Jesalva earlier this week. | Photo courtesy of Presidential Communications Office.
Daily TribunePresident Ferdinand Marcos Jr. personally met with overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) Jimmy Pacheco and Camille Jesalva earlier this week. | Photo courtesy of Presidential Communications Office.
Malacañang announced on Saturday that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. personally met with overseas Filipino workers Jimmy Pacheco and Camille Jesalva earlier this week after surviving attacks by Palestinian group Hamas in Israel.
Both caretakers, Pacheco and Jesalva, have safely returned to the Philippines. The former came last December 18 after being kidnapped by extremists for 40 days.
"At least you're now home. Also, Merry Christmas. That was truly a heavy experience. I urge you to write down or take a video [narrating your experience]," Marcos told the two Filipinos.
"We should do it… everyone who were repatriated. They should recount their story so that everybody would know what they went through. The Israelis, they love us," Marcos added.
Pacheco recounted the event, including how Hamas broke into their kibbutz and shot and killed his Israeli ward.
He informed Marcos that under intense shelling, the group transferred their hostages into tunnels in order to avoid Israeli troops.
Pacheco said that he survived on small amounts of water and dates during his more than month-long captivity in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Jesalva, a 31-year-old caregiver from Nueva Ecija, refused to leave her 95-year-old employer, Nitza Hefetz, during the Hamas attack, and as a result, she became a hero in Israel.
Jesalva and her employer were residing in the Nirim Kibbutz, which was attacked on 7 October by Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza border.
She said the militants stole the money she had planned to spend on her trip to the Philippines after Hamas broke into their home.
Her story was made public after Israel Defense Force soldiers came to their help.
Gaza's health ministry has reported that over 20,000 Palestinians have died as a result of Israel's heavy use of airstrikes and offensives in response to Hamas, a response that has drawn international censure.
Among the many casualties are women and children who were innocent bystanders.
Experts from the UN claim that Israel had been unlawfully occupying the Palestinian state before to this occurrence, having launched rockets into Gaza for years and implemented blockades and evictions.