Shani Louk in an image from her Instagram post (Photo: Instagram).
A related source said that Ms. Louk was confirmed dead after a forensic examination found a bone fragment from her skull. DNA testing concluded that the bone fragment belonged to Ms. Louk.
The terrifying moment
A music festival in southern Israel turned into a tragedy when Hamas gunmen stormed the site, killing at least 260 people and capturing many others.
Shani, a tattoo artist, was also present at the outdoor music event, which took place on farmland about 3km from the Israel-Gaza border on October 7.
It was planned to be an all-night musical celebration of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles).
But at around 6:30 p.m., festival-goers began to hear sirens and rocket fire. About 30 minutes later, hundreds of festival-goers were running for their lives as Hamas members stormed the event site and opened fire on them.
The attack on the music festival was one of the first sites targeted by the Hamas militant group in its campaign of land, air and sea attacks into Israel on October 7.
Immediately after the attack, images began circulating online of a young woman lying face down and nearly naked in the back of a pickup truck filled with armed men in Gaza.
Shani's family said they recognized her in the footage because of her curly hair and distinctive tattoos. It appears she was no longer alive at the time, but the family is still holding out hope.
Ms. Ricarda holds up a photo of her daughter Shani (left) and an online photo of Shani (Photo: Network X).
Earlier this month, German media reported unconfirmed reports that Louk was in a local hospital with serious injuries. At the time, Shani’s father Nissim told Channel 13 that he was glad to hear the news because at least she was alive.
"I'm happy. First of all, this is over and we know exactly what happened... Because I know where she is, she's not in some tunnel under Gaza," he said.
But on the evening of October 29, Louk's family members later received a letter from Israel's ZAKA rescue service informing them that they had found a piece of bone from the base of her skull that they had identified as hers. "At least she's not in pain anymore," her mother said through tears.
However, her body is still in Gaza. The mother said the family is observing Shiva - a traditional week-long Jewish mourning period - but cannot hold a funeral at this time because they have only received some of Shani's body parts.
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