UPDATED: German-Israeli woman snatched by Hamas at music festival is dead, Israel says
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Oct 30 (Reuters) – A German-Israeli woman who was snatched by Hamas from a music festival on Oct. 7 and paraded around Gaza by the Palestinian militant group is dead, the Israeli government said on Monday.
We are devastated to share that the death of 23 year old German-Israeli Shani Luk was confirmed.
Shani who was kidnapped from a music festival and tortured and paraded around Gaza by Hamas terrorists, experienced unfathomable horrors.
“I am really sorry to report that we have now received news that Shani Nicole Louk has been confirmed murdered and dead,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Germany’s Bild newspaper.
“What we saw on the Gaza-Israel border goes far beyond a pogrom. We saw a slaughterhouse.”
Louk, 23, was one of scores of people taken by Hamas during a deadly assault on the Israeli military and civilian communities that killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
Hamas has not commented on Louk’s fate.
The circumstances of her death were not immediately clear.
The German government confirmed on Monday that a German national had died but did not offer specifics.
A family source told Reuters that a part of a body had been found which was matched to Louk’s DNA.
Her family initially thought she was alive but injured when she was snatched from the music festival but now believe she was killed on the same day, possibly shot in the head, German broadcaster RTL/ntv said.
“At least she didn’t suffer,” her mother Ricarda Louk told RTL/ntv.
Shani Louk's mother has told a German TV channel that her daughter has died.
"Unfortunately, yesterday we received the news that my daughter is no longer alive," Ricarda Louk told RTL and n-tv channels.
Fierce air and artillery strikes rang out in Gaza on Monday as Israeli troops backed by tanks pressed into the Palestinian enclave with a ground assault that prompted more international calls for civilians to be protected.
A cousin of Louk’s said that the family received an official notice from the IDF and ZAKA that a bone from the base of Louk’s skull had been found matched with Louk’s DNA. Doctors determined that a person cannot live without the bone found and concluded that Louk could not possibly still be alive.
Wir haben gerade Israels Präsident @Isaac_Herzog zum Interview getroffen. Herzog sagte über die getötete Deutsche Shani Louk: „Es tut mir wirklich leid, berichten zu müssen, dass wir jetzt die Nachricht erhalten haben, dass Shani Nicole Louk als ermordet und tot bestätigt wurde.… pic.twitter.com/blBIlqwZ4g
Fliers showing currently missing people who were kidnapped by Hamas in Israel, are pasted on an advertising column in Berlin, Germany. EPA-EFE/CLEMENS BILAN
