Andrey Kozlov, who was rescued from Hamas captivity after 264 days during Operation Arnon, recalled during Saturday night’s rally for the hostages, which was held in Tel Aviv, the time he spent with Alex Lobanov, who was murdered in captivity and whose body was recovered from the Gaza Strip last week.
"I may look calm, but I'm not. I look like everything is under control, but it’s not. None of us are, no one here ever will be if we don't bring back all the hostages from the tunnels in Gaza. I'm lucky, I'm blessed - I'm here. Hersh, Eden, Carmel, Ori, Almog and Alex are not."
In his speech, Kozlov said that "Alex was there, in hell, for two months. Michal's husband, the father of Tom and Kai, the son he never had the chance to meet. He taught me words in Hebrew, he told me his life story, we shared our fears and hopes. My wishes came true, but for him - his fears came true. They took him and told us he would go home."
"He should have been here, with us. We cannot allow this disaster to continue to happen, we need to demand that our leaders do whatever is necessary and do the right thing. We need to bring them home for rehabilitation or burial, for them, for the families and for Israel."