Gaza Strip
Army: Body of German-Israeli Shani Louk found
Ricarda Louk shows a photo
© Christoph Soeder/dpa
Shani Louk wanted to dance and party with other young people on October 7th – then came the Hamas terrorist attack. Now her body has been found in the Gaza Strip.
According to its own statements, the Israeli army has… The body of the German-Israeli Shani Louk was found in the Gaza Strip. This was announced by army spokesman Daniel Hagari. Louk was abducted to the coastal strip in a Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th and was later declared dead. At the time of the unprecedented attack, she had been at the Supernova festival in southern Israel along with hundreds of other young people.
In addition to Louk, according to the army spokesman, two other bodies of festival visitors were found. All three were murdered at the festival, Hagari said. Their bodies were recovered that night during a special operation by the army and the domestic intelligence service Shin Bet in the Gaza Strip. It was an operation based on intelligence information. After the dead were identified, the families were informed. “We will continue to fight to bring the hostages home,” Hagari said. He did not provide any further information about where the bodies were found.
Father: “It’s come full circle”
Shani’s father, Nissim Louk, told Channel 13 TV that the family had been informed in the morning. The body was found in a deep and cool tunnel in the north of the Gaza Strip and was in good condition. It was a “gift” that they now had certainty and that their daughter could be buried peacefully, said Louk. “There will be a place to lay a wreath, maybe build something in her memory,” he said. “It’s come full circle,” he said. “Shani radiated light in her life,” he said of his daughter, who was only 22 years old.
The father said they had no longer had any hope that Shani could still be alive. The Israeli army had already reported Louk’s death at the end of October, but there was uncertainty about the fate of the other two hostages.
Her mother Ricarda Louk said at the time that a sliver of a skull bone had been found and a DNA sample was taken with it. If you injured this inner skull bone, you would no longer be able to live, the mother said at the time. The parents had provided the authorities with the necessary DNA comparison material a long time ago. Part of the family lives in Baden-Württemberg.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Platform X: “The heart breaks because of the great loss. My wife Sara and I mourn with the families.” He promised to bring back all hostages – dead or alive.
Bring hostages back as quickly as possible
In a statement from the forum of the relatives of the now 129 hostages in the Gaza Strip, it was said that the families had heard the army spokesman’s message “with deep sadness and broken hearts.” Shani Louk, Amit Buskila and Itzik Gelernter were “brutally killed while dancing and celebrating life.” All hostages must be returned as quickly as possible – “the living for healing, the murdered for a dignified burial.”
Images and videos that circulated online after the terrorist attack showed the young woman’s body on the attackers’ pickup truck. Her family said they recognized the young woman in the photos and shortly afterwards turned to the public to ask for help. Shani Louk’s family initially assumed that the young woman had been seriously injured in the head in the attack, but was alive and in the Gaza Strip.
The unprecedented massacre by Hamas and other Islamist groups in Israel on October 7, 2023 was the trigger for the Gaza war. In several kibbutzim, at two festivals and in attacks on army posts, around 1,200 people were brutally killed and 250 others were taken hostage. It is unclear how many of the hostages are still alive. The bodies of two Thai agricultural workers who were also murdered on October 7th were only recovered on Thursday.