Michal Lobanov at The Algemeiner’s 11th annual “J100” gala in New York City on Jan. 14, 2024. Photo: Screenshot

At The Algemeiner‘s 11th annual “J100” Gala on Tuesday, the widow of murdered Hamas hostage Alex Lobanov described her journey since the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks in southern Israel.

“My life changed on Oct. 7 at 6:29 am,” Michal Lobanov said. “At that exact moment I started a journey of fear, nightmare, a journey to the unknown. Alex Lobanov, my love, my husband, may he rest in peace, was working as a bar manager at the Nova Festival. Alex was brutally kidnapped into Gaza while he was alive, by Gaza citizens who sold him to the Hamas terror organization.”

Michal said that “after 11 months of unbearable suffering, on Aug. 29 he was murdered in Tel Sultan in Rafa.” Along with other hostages, “their dead bodies were found in a tunnel in horrible conditions. Believe me, I saw this with my own eyes, the horrors that my Alex went through, together with the five hostages are the same horrors that happened in the Holocaust. Yes, we went through a Holocaust for the second time in history; there is no other way to describe it.”

After describing what she called “the privilege” to identify the body of her husband and bring him back to Israel for burial, Michal said, “Alex and I have two baby boys. Tom was only two years old when his father was kidnapped. He desperately misses his dad every single day. And Kai, he is a 10-month old baby. Kai was born at the end of February while his dad was in Gaza and didn’t even know that I gave birth to his second child. Kai will never meet his dad.”