October 7 · Personal story
Gelienor (Jimmy) Pacheco
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Nir Oz, while working as Amitai Ben Zvi’s caregiver
Current outcome
Released alive · November 24, 2023
Released after 49 days in captivity.
01
Caregiver, husband, and father
Gelienor “Jimmy” Pacheco came from Santa Ana in Cagayan in the Philippines. He worked in Israel as a caregiver for more than five years and cared for Amitai Ben Zvi in Nir Oz for about four years. Jimmy was married to Clarice and had three children. His wife said he had gone to Israel to provide his children a better life. Jimmy called Amitai “Abba” and treated the older man as family. By the time of the October 7 attack, Jimmy’s work and household in Nir Oz had become closely connected to the Ben Zvi family.
02
Staying with Amitai
When attackers entered Nir Oz on October 7, Jimmy sent Clarice a message telling her to care for the children and save the money he had earned for their future. He remained with Amitai as the attack reached the house. In accounts after release, Jimmy said Amitai told him to run and save himself, but Jimmy was captured and Amitai was killed. He later described seeing the murder and being accused by the attackers of being a soldier.
03
A cell, then a tunnel
Jimmy said his captors held him in a cell for the first two weeks, with a mattress on the floor and little to do. He wondered why he had been taken and said he felt he might go insane. After those two weeks, he was moved underground with other hostages. He described cleaning seven filthy toilets in the tunnel, receiving salty water and sometimes only half a pita for a day. With a history of kidney trouble, he feared the water would kill him. He saved small pieces of toilet paper, dampened them against the tunnel wall and ate them to quiet his empty stomach. He said he kept thinking of his children and prayed he would live so they would not lose their father as he had lost his at 12.
04
Light after 49 days
On the eve of his release, Jimmy thought captors were transferring him to another tunnel. On the morning of November 24, 2023, they told him and other captives to discard bedding and clean the tunnel, then said they would go for a walk. When he emerged into sunlight, he cried, knelt and thanked God. He was the only Filipino in that released group.
05
Christmas together in Cagayan
A Philippine Information Agency report said Jimmy and Clarice had reunited with their family in Santa Ana, Cagayan. It quoted him describing this as his first Christmas celebration with his complete family after more than five years working in Israel.