What survivors of the terrorist attack report is shocking – and the fate of many men, women and children kidnapped to Gaza is still completely uncertain. A ray of hope: the kidnapped German Shani Louk is said to be alive.
A young woman lies half-naked, face down, in the back of a pickup truck. Her legs are twisted. She is apparently unconscious. Armed Hamas terrorists sit and stand around them, one of them spits at them. Then the car drives away. The video showing this frightening scene has been circulating on the Internet since the weekend.
Her family quickly identified the young woman based on her distinctive tattoos. It is the 22 year old German Shani Louk. The young woman was kidnapped from Israel to the Gaza Strip at the weekend during Hamas’ major attack, along with numerous other victims.
The situation of many hostages is uncertain. For days it was unclear how Shani Louk was doing and whether she was even still alive. Now a sign of life: The abducted German is seriously injured in a hospital in Gaza. This is what Shani’s mother says in a video that the daily News is present. In it, the mother also urgently appeals to the federal government, asking for quick help.
“You have to act quickly now”
“I am the mother of the kidnapped Shani Louk. We now have further information that Shani is alive, but has a serious head injury and is in a critical situation,” says Ricarda Louk in the video statement: “We demand that the German government “She acts quickly. There should be no arguments about jurisdiction. You have to act quickly to get Shani out of the Gaza Strip. This is my desperate call to the entire country of Germany to help me get my Shani back healthy.”
Her daughter Shani had celebrated with hundreds of other young people at a music festival near Kibbutz Reim near the Gaza Strip on Saturday. Orly Louk, Shani’s aunt who lives in Baden-Württemberg, described what happened next to the dpa news agency. “She was at a party, in the desert, in no man’s land. There she was dancing with a group of people. My niece was there when a Hamas group stormed the party,” said Orly Louk: “There was shooting, the party-goers became “The young people were running and hiding, as far as I know. You can see what happened in the videos.”
According to the Zaka rescue service, 260 people were murdered on the festival site alone. Paramedics reported unimaginable scenes on site, and even longtime CNN correspondent Nic Robertson became emotional while reporting on the aftermath.
Thousands of victims
In total, around 900 Israeli soldiers and civilians died in the Hamas attacks, and more than 2,600 Israelis were reportedly injured. And there are also people in Germany who have lost friends in Israel. Like Meron Mendel, the director of the Anne Frank educational institution. He himself grew up in a kibbutz in the desert near the Gaza Strip; many of his childhood friends still live there, Mendel tells us in an interview tagesschau.de.
In his youth, he often went to Kibbutz Beeri, where more than 100 bodies have now been recovered, says Mendel: “I personally know some of the people who were murdered there.”
Meron Mendel lives in Germany and is head of the Anne Frank Educational Center in Frankfurt. He says it’s now difficult for him to bear being so far away from Israel – while his friends are suffering.
Twelve hours in the bunker
When Mendel heard about the Hamas attack on Saturday, he tried to contact a friend who lives near the border with his wife and two children. But he couldn’t be reached and only got back to us later. “My friend and his two children were sitting in their bunker in their home, with no water, no electricity, no cell phone reception. They heard shots but didn’t know the extent of the attack,” says Mendel. After twelve hours the three were able to leave the bunker and are now safe. The mother happened to be in Germany at the time of the attack. Other people on the kibbutz were killed by Hamas, Mendel reports, including neighbors of the family and friends of the children.
Mendel says he is in contact with friends and family in Israel all the time via WhatsApp. His brother was drafted into the army on Saturday evening. He was on duty at the border with Gaza, but the family had not heard from him since Monday morning.
Mendel said it was difficult for him to bear being safe thousands of kilometers away in Germany while his friends were suffering. “Since Saturday I’ve been sleeping sporadically for an hour or two, then I look at the news again to see what’s new. It’s very disturbing.”
Hidden in the bushes
Meanwhile, there are more and more public calls for help from relatives. In addition to the Louk family, another family of a German-Israeli woman who was apparently kidnapped to the Gaza Strip has made an emotional appeal to the public.
During the Hamas attack, Yarden Romann was dragged into a car by terrorists along with her husband and little daughter and kidnapped. Amit Avraham, her sister’s partner, told the dpa news agency. Shortly before the border with the Gaza Strip, the couple managed to jump out of the car with the child. They were separated while fleeing. “The father and daughter were able to hide in the bushes for 24 hours,” Avraham said. They are now safe, but there is no trace of their mother. Apparently she was picked up again by the terrorists and taken to the Gaza Strip. Her mother-in-law and sister-in-law were also kidnapped.
Romann is the granddaughter of Jews who fled Germany and came from Fürth in Bavaria. The 36-year-old woman was visiting her in-laws at Kibbutz Beeri in the border area. “The Romann family is asking for urgent help in finding the missing people,” says the appeal, which was also spread on social media.
It is a desperate appeal from thousands.