Media reports
22-year-old German among the victims of Hamas – family hopes for help from Germany
22-year-old Shani Louk has been missing from her family since Saturday
A 22-year-old with German nationality is said to have been kidnapped by Hamas fighters during an attack on a music festival in southern Israel. Her family didn’t hear from her again on Saturday.
According to media reports, a German woman is among the victims of the radical Islamic Hamas in Israel. The 22-year-old Shani Louk has been missing from her family since Saturday, the “Spiegel” reported on Sunday. The young woman is with one There was a music festival in southern Israel when Hamas fighters attacked the country and also attacked the festival guests.
Many people are still missing there. A British man was also kidnapped there and is now said to be in the Gaza Strip. Several German citizens in Israel were also missing elsewhere.
It is unclear whether Shani Louk is still alive. Her family recognized her on a video that shows her lying half-naked on a truck while Hamas fighters trample on her. The Jeep then speeds away, according to the report. The young woman’s mother, Ricarda Louk, assumes that she was kidnapped and is still alive, the “Spiegel” reported. The 22-year-old is easy to recognize because of her eye-catching tattoos and her dyed hair.
Hamas fighters are said to have shot at revelers
According to “Spiegel”, Shani Louk has never lived in Germany, but has visited her grandparents in Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg several times. Her mother, a Catholic who later converted to Judaism, emigrated to Israel. The Jewish father is Israeli. The family lives about 80 kilometers from the Gaza Strip. The young woman therefore has German citizenship. The SWR also reported on the case.
During Hamas’ major attack on Israel on Saturday, Shani Louk was at the music festival with friends, her mother reported, according to “Spiegel”. She called her daughter when the first Hamas rockets flew. The young woman replied that they would look for shelter. After that, the family no longer owned anything. However, her credit card was later used in Gaza.
Israeli media reported that Hamas fighters shot into the celebrating crowd at the festival. Videos circulating online showed hundreds of young people fleeing the shots early in the morning.
Shani Louk’s family hopes for help from German authorities
According to a report in the “Bild” newspaper, Shani Louk’s aunt, her partner and her grandfather also hope that the young woman is still alive and will be released in Ravensburg. Winfried Gehr, who is in a relationship with Shani’s aunt, told the newspaper that the young woman organized the festival together with her Mexican boyfriend: “They traveled all over the world with it. The terrorists have, of all people, a German girl who is always for peace fought and didn’t join the army. A boy spat on her, so you can see how big the hatred is.”
According to the report, the family made their daughter’s German citizenship public because they hoped for help from the German authorities. Because Shani Louk is just one case among dozens in Israel: According to reports from the Israeli news platform Ynet, “around a hundred” Israelis, including numerous women, children and old people, were apparently abducted to the Gaza Strip. The Foreign Office in Berlin initially did not comment on Shani Louk’s case.
Meanwhile, the Israeli embassy in Great Britain confirmed that a Briton was kidnapped by Hamas at the music festival and is believed to be in the Gaza Strip. “I know there is a Brit who is currently in Gaza,” Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely told Sky News. “The Israeli government is doing everything it can to help the hostages.”
More German citizens missing in Israel
Jake Marlowe, 26, who moved to Israel from Britain two years ago, worked security at the rave party, according to his mother. An embassy spokesman said he was missing: “We don’t know for sure whether he is held hostage or dead or in hospital.”
According to media reports, other German citizens are also missing in Israel. Israeli Yoni Asher told Channel 12 News that his German wife Doron, their two small children and their grandmother had disappeared. His wife and children, aged three and five, were visiting their grandmother in a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip when Hamas launched its attack.
He recognized his family from a Hamas hostage video. They had been kidnapped: “I immediately recognized that it was her, without a doubt.” The children and the grandmother also have German citizenship.