Gideon Pauker

Gideon Pauker, 79, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, was murdered by Hamas in his home on October 7, a week before his 80th birthday.

He was shot and wounded by terrorists while inside his home’s reinforced room, and bled to death there next to his wife, Orna, who was not hurt.

“For hours I begged for help, for someone to come and treat him, and nobody came,” Orna told Army Radio on October 16. “He essentially died of blood loss, despite all my pleas, and I stayed with him in the reinforced room until they came to rescue me… It’s possible he could have been saved.”

She said she had to leave his body behind when she was rescued, and it was only collected later by first responders. The couple were slated to travel to Rome together to celebrate his 80th birthday and had already bought tickets for their trip.

“We had plans — we didn’t make it to 50 years [of marriage], I thought we would,” she said.

Gideon is survived by his wife, Orna, his children Eran, Raz, Irit and Tal, and a number of grandchildren, as well as his brother Ran. He was buried on October 23 in Kibbutz Hatzerim.

Gideon and his brother Ran came to the kibbutz in the 1960s as a part of a group of pioneers to settle and cultivate the land. According to the kibbutz, he worked in several jobs there over the years, including coordinating the farm, managing the Negev “cooperative” which organized the distribution of agricultural products, working in the field of gardening and decoration as well as serving as the kibbutz secretary.

In later years he realized his dream by planting a small vineyard in the kibbutz and beginning to make his own wine, alongside a group of friends including hostage Chaim Peri, producing about 1,000 bottles a year for family and friends.

“Gideon’s years were full of love for life, good food and good wine,” the kibbutz wrote in a post online. “In Nir Oz he established along with friends a small vineyard, in which he invested his energy and his time. The connection to nature ran through the Pauker family — Gideon loved the field of gardening and also worked in it — his figure on a little tractor is recalled by every one of us.”

Speaking to Channel 12 news in November, his daughter, Irit Pauker, said, “Emotion is a resource you don’t know how to divide. This isn’t reality, so I don’t feel anything because I don’t yet miss my father, he hasn’t disappeared for me yet. This isn’t reality yet.”

His grandson, Gal Pauker, penned a tribute on Facebook to “my beloved grandfather.”

“I hope that you didn’t suffer and that you are in a better place,” he wrote. “Next week we were supposed to celebrate your 80th birthday and instead we need to plan for a funeral… You were an incredible grandfather, a positive person, smiling, smart and optimistic. You had so much ahead of you and now you’re not here. I will love you forever, and I can’t come to terms with the fact that we won’t meet again for a glass of wine, that we won’t laugh together and talk about everything. I have so many more things to tell you.”
Source: The Times of Israel