Angelyn Aguirre, 32: Newlywed Filipina caregiver wouldn’t leave patient
Murdered by Hamas in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7
Angelyn Aguirre, 32, a native of the Philippines, was murdered by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7.
She is survived by her husband, Nicolas, her parents William and Erlinda, seven siblings and many nieces and nephews. Her remains arrived in the Philippines on November 3 for burial.
Her family said she got married in September 2022 and flew back to Israel just a few days later to resume work.
Aguirre worked caring for an elderly Israeli woman, Nira Ronen, and they were both slain side by side as they tried to hide inside the apartment’s safe room amid the Hamas onslaught.
“In her last message, she told us the gunmen had arrived and she was scared,” Wilma Bandong, Aguirre’s eldest sister, told the Philippine Star newspaper. “What happened to my sister was so painful.”
Ramon Guico, the governor of the Pangasinan region from where she hailed, said Aguirre “is truly the embodiment of unselfish and compassionate service. She is the supreme example of unbelievable loyalty and boundless mercy… she has demonstrated the highest standards of stewardship.”
Her sister, Angenica, who also worked in Israel as a caregiver, told the Manila Times that Angelyn could have run to try and escape the attackers, “but she did not want to leave her employer.” She said Angelyn tried to close the door of the bomb shelter to prevent the gunmen from entering, “but they overpowered her.”
Angenica later wrote on Facebook: “You are always in my heart my dearest sister Angelyn. I love you very much.”
Mickey Barlev, who employed Aguirre in the past to care for his late family member in Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, described her in a Facebook post as “the lovely Angie, basically an angel who came to the Holy Land to earn a living and support her family in the Phillipines,” noting that she cared for her charges “with endless dedication.”
Nira Ronen’s daughter, Chen Stein, described Angelyn as “a sensitive, gentle and devoted young woman who instilled a profound sense of security in our mother, which she dearly needed.”
Aguirre had been working as a caregiver in Israel for seven years and was planning on returning to the Philippines for good at the end of the year to start having children, her family said.
Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss paid a condolence call to the family after her body arrived home, recounting what he learned from her loved ones: “She was smart, she even learned Hebrew to be able to communicate with her Israeli patient easier,” Fluss said. “It was heartbreaking to learn that she lived with Nicolas for one week only after their wedding, and that they were planning to have a family by next year.”
Her mother, Erlinda, told the Philippine News Agency in tears that her daughter was sweet and caring: “She would always video call us. Sometimes from morning till night time. Sometimes we would just let her talk as long as our cameras are open while we are watching television,” she said.
“Angelyn is always the first to greet us in our group chat,” she said. “She was like that.”
