(Staff article from The ALJAZEERA NEWS on 30 October 2024.)
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a
social media post on Monday that it had confirmed the death of Louk, snatched
at a music festival where Hamas fighters killed more than 200 people. (Her
naked-unconscious body was paraded on the back of pickup-truck by Hamas in Gaza. She was later gang-raped, shot, and beheaded by Hamas Animals.)
“Our hearts are broken,” the social media post reads, adding that Louk had been “paraded” around Gaza. “May her memory be a blessing.” The circumstances of Louk’s death were not immediately clear. Louk’s sister Adi spoke of her “great sorrow” as she shared the news of Shani’s death on Instagram.
Speaking with
the German outlet RTL/nt-v, Shani’s mother Ricarda Louk said that the body of
her daughter had not been found, but a piece of her skull with matching DNA had
been recovered.
Ricarda said
that she believes her daughter has been dead since the assault on October 7, in
which Hamas killed more than 1,400 people. The mother said that she believes
her daughter was possibly shot in the head. “At least she didn’t suffer,” she
told RTL/n-tv.
German
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the news of Louk’s death was “terrible” and showed
the need to hold Hamas to account. There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
The October 7 attack saw hundreds of Hamas fighters
break through the Israeli security barrier around the besieged Gaza Strip and
enter a series of towns in southern Israel, killing entire families, including
women and children.
“What we saw on
the Gaza-Israel border goes far beyond a pogrom. We saw a slaughterhouse,”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Germany’s Bild newspaper in an interview in
which he confirmed Louk’s death. More than 220 people, including Israelis and
foreigners, were also taken captive in the attack.
Since the
attack, Israel has carried out a devastating campaign of air raids on Gaza,
which it has placed under total siege, cutting off access to water, electricity,
food and fuel. Family members of those held captive have pleaded for their
return and human rights groups and the United Nations have also called for the
immediate release of the hostages.
On Monday, Hamas
released footage that purports to show three captive women delivering a brief
statement in which they blame Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the
October 7 attack and call for a prisoner exchange to secure their release.
“She [one of the
captives] blamed him [Netanyahu] for the failure of the October 7 attack, from
preventing it from happening, for saying that no army was present, no one came
to help us,” said Al Jazeera correspondent Sara Khairat.
Statements
offered by people being held captive are often given under duress. Netanyahu
denounced the video as “cruel psychological propaganda” in a response on
Monday.