The missing German-Israeli hostage Shani Louk, who was abducted by Hamas at a music festival, has been confirmed dead after a fragment of her skull was found and identified.
Her mother, Ricarda Louk, confirmed her death saying: “Unfortunately we got the news yesterday [Sunday] that my daughter is no longer alive.”
Louk, 23, had been missing since Hamas militants stormed the Supernova rave near the Gaza border on October 7, killing at least 260 festival-goers in one of the deadliest episodes in Israel’s history.
Shortly after the terrorist attack, images began circulating online of a young woman lying face down and nearly naked in the back of a pick-up truck in Gaza filled with armed men.
Louk’s family said they recognised Shani in the footage because of her dreadlocks and distinctive tattoos. They believed she was alive but in a critical condition in Gaza and pleaded for her release.
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It is now understood that Shani died on the day of the attack. “You cannot live without this piece of the skull, which sits right in the back of the head and is connected to the rest of the body,” a senior Israeli government source told The Times.
The fragment had been located near the festival site and was submitted for DNA testing, the source confirmed, when a positive match with Shani was confirmed last week.
• How Israel’s Supernova music festival turned into a massacre
“Her body is in the Gaza Strip, so her family is going to wait until this body is to be delivered to Israel, hopefully soon,” the source added. This means the family will be unable to sit Shiva, which is the Jewish mourning tradition that begins immediately after you bury your dead.
Louk’s sister Adi spoke of her “great sorrow” as she shared the news of Shani’s death on Instagram.
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Her cousin, Tom Weintraub Louk, 30, who lives in Israel, had described Louk as a “free soul”.
“She loved everything. She didn’t go to the army because she didn’t want to hurt even a fly,” she told The Times earlier this month.
The Israeli ministry of Foreign Affairs paid tribute to Shani on Twitter/X, saying: “Our hearts are broken.”
“Shani, who was kidnapped from a music festival and tortured and paraded around Gaza by Hamas terrorists, experienced unfathomable horrors.”
The German chancellor Olaf Scholz said: “For me, this news is terrible. This shows all the barbarism that lies behind Hamas.”
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Hamas militants killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attacks, according to the Israeli authorities. Another 239 people were taken hostage.
In retaliation, Israel began a relentless bombardment of Gaza, killing more than 8,300 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
