Shani Louk's mother says 'at least she didn't suffer' after the 23-year-old was confirmed dead, weeks after she was last seen being paraded by Hamas through Gaza
AMMAR AWAD/Reuters
- Shani Louk's mother says she now believes her daughter has been dead since October 7th.
- "At least she didn't suffer," Ricarda Louk told a German outlet.
- She said the Israeli military told her a skull fragment indicated that Shani died the day of the attack.
The mother of Shani Louk, a 23-year-old Israeli-German woman whose body was paraded by Hamas militants after their attack on October 7, confirmed her daughter was dead, but said, "at least she didn't suffer."
Israel's Foreign Ministry announced that Louk was confirmed dead in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday.
Louk had been attending the Nova music festival near the Gaza border when Hamas militants launched their terror attack. Hundreds of people were killed and dozens more were taken hostage in the assault, Israeli authorities said.
Video footage circulating online after the attack showed a woman stripped to her underwear and face-down on the bed of a pick-up truck, her legs twisted while a Hamas soldier grabbed her hair and others spit on her.
Louk's family identified the woman in the video as Shani based on her tattoos and dreadlocks, the Washington Post reported.
Soon after the video was released, Louk's mother Ricarda said she thought her daughter was unconscious but alive, citing sources from Palestine, BBC News reported.
But, Ricarda Louk told German TV outlet RTL/ntv on Monday that she now believes her daughter has been dead since the attack.
Louk told the outlet that the Israeli military found a fragment of her daughter's skull indicating she had been shot in the head and killed on October 7th. The rest of her body hasn't been found yet.
Israeli authorities condemned Louk's death and the militants responsible.
"These barbaric, sadistic animals simply chopped off her head as they attacked, tortured, and killed Israelis," Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in an interview with German outlet Bild, according to a Reuters translation.