Wikipedia

Killing of Shani Louk

On 7 October 2023, during the Re'im music festival massacre, Shani Nicole Louk (Hebrew: שני ניקול לוק), a 22-year-old German-Israeli tattoo artist and influencer, was killed. Shortly after the attack, a video circulated showing her body paraded through the streets of Gaza by Hamas militants in the back of a pickup truck. Described by security experts and commentators as Hamas's social media propaganda, it became one of the first viral videos of the Israel–Hamas war. The images became emblematic of militants' conduct toward civilians in the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.[a][2][3]

Killing of Shani Louk
Part of the Re'im music festival massacre
Shani Louk in March 2021
LocationNear Re'im, Israel
Date7 October 2023
Attack type
Homicide
VictimShani Louk, aged 22
BurialFuneral in Srigim on 19 May 2024
Perpetrator Hamas

Attention was also brought to Louk's case by her family, beginning with her mother Ricarda saying that she had received information that Louk was alive and in a Gaza hospital. She appealed to the German government and received responses from top-ranking German officials. German authorities considered Louk to be among their nationals taken hostage during the war.[4] At the end of the month, Israel confirmed Louk's death based on the discovery of a skull fragment on the road leading out of the festival grounds, indicating that she was killed during the attack, while trying to escape.[5][6] On 17 May 2024 Israeli forces recovered her body from a tunnel in Gaza, and she was buried in her hometown of Srigim a couple of days later.[7]

Shani Louk

Shani Louk was born on 7 February 2001 in Israel[8][9][10] to an Israeli father and German mother, Ricarda Louk, who had lived in Ravensburg, Germany, and moved to Israel in the early 1990s.[11] Louk and her family moved to Portland, Oregon, U.S., in the early 2000s, and she attended kindergarten at Portland Jewish Academy.[12]

Louk later became a resident of Tel Aviv,[11] where she worked as a freelance tattoo artist[13][14][15] and also had a following as an Instagram influencer.[15][16][17] According to Louk's aunt, she held pacifist views and obtained an exemption from military service in Israel, which she said was facilitated by her dual citizenship.[18]

Killing and parading of body

Events during the Re'im music festival massacre

For broader coverage of this topic, see Re'im music festival massacre.

On 7 October 2023, Hamas militants launched a large-scale rocket attack and an incursion into Israel from the Gaza Strip, against military bases and civilians, perpetrating multiple massacres, including a massacre of attendees of a music festival.[19][20][21] The open-air psychedelic trance festival, named Supernova Sukkot Gathering, coincided with the final day of Sukkot (6 October)[19] and Simchat Torah (7 October),[22] and took place in the western Negev desert,[21] approximately 5 km (3.1 mi) from the Gaza–Israel barrier, near the Re'im kibbutz.[19][23]

Louk was at the festival, accompanied by her boyfriend, a Mexican citizen.[24] After the Red Color rocket warning alarm was sounded,[23] and the attack began, Louk spoke on the phone with her mother, saying that there were few places to hide and that she would try to find one.[25][26] She was killed while attempting to reach safety[6] and was reported as missing at the time.[27]

Viral video

Hours later that day, a video emerged showing Louk's body,[28][29][b][c] partially clothed, with a significant head injury and blood-matted hair, being paraded in the streets of Gaza City by Hamas militants in the back of a pickup truck; they were exclaiming "Allahu Akbar" and were joined in the cheers by the people in the crowd surrounding the vehicle, some of whom spat on the body.[33][23][34][35] The video went viral,[36][37][2] becoming one of the first viral videos of the Israel–Hamas war.[36] It was released in a wave of videos of Hamas members parading hostages and bodies.[38][39][40] Photographs were also taken and circulated online.[29]

According to security experts interviewed by Agence France-Presse, the release of the video, along with other videos showing dead or captured civilians, has the character of deliberate and sophisticated propaganda aimed to induce feelings of "helplessness, paralysis, and humiliation" in the population, and that viral spread of such materials causes amplification of narratives desirable to Hamas.[41] In a New York Times column, Nicholas Kristof discussed the video as an example of the causes of psychological trauma and anger experienced within Jewish communities in the aftermath of the attacks.[42] According to commentator Bobby Ghosh, Hamas released propaganda videos quickly, wanting to be the first to score psychological warfare gains; however, the video showing Louk did not demoralize Israeli society, and instead her "treatment at the hands of [her] captors drew widespread revulsion and reprobation, and if anything, strengthened Israeli resolve to exact retribution."[43]

Despite Hamas being banned on Twitter as a terrorist organization, some of its propaganda videos have circulated there after being reposted from other platforms.[44] Journalists discussed the video showing Louk together with other Hamas-related content that was being shared, in the context of the European Commission's warning to Twitter owner Elon Musk about permitting spread of illegal content.[45][46][47] On 12 October, the European Commission initiated an investigation against Twitter for dissemination of "violent and terrorist content" and other forms of illegal content.[48][49]

Associated Press photograph

Before the scene from the viral video, as the pickup truck was returning to Gaza Strip, it was photographed by an Associated Press freelance photojournalist.[50][51] The image, showing the vehicle carrying Louk's body and the attackers, was included (and featured as the first) in the series of 20 photographs from the war taken by the Associated Press's team of photographers which won the "Team Picture Story of the Year" prize at the 2024 Pictures of the Year International competition.[52][51][53]

Family's campaign

From early on, there were media reports that Louk had been killed, describing the video as depicting her lifeless body.[54][55] According to The Times of Israel, "it seemed likely at the time that Louk was no longer alive."[56] Members of Louk's family believed that she was still alive, and her mother, Ricarda Louk, appealed to the German government for help.[57][58] Ricarda said that she had received information, through a friend with a contact in Gaza,[59] that Louk was receiving treatment at a hospital in Gaza for a serious head injury and was in critical condition.[60][33] A later report by Human Rights Watch stated that it was due to the footage that the family believed that Louk had suffered her head injury.[61] Ricarda received a bank notification that Louk's credit card had been used on 8 October near Indonesia Hospital in Gaza.[58]

In the following weeks, Louk's friends and family members participated in a public campaign to influence the government to treat the rescue of hostages during the invasion of the Gaza Strip as the highest priority.[62] On 13 October, during her visit to Israel, German minister for foreign affairs Annalena Baerbock met with Ricarda and family members of abductees with German citizenship. After the meeting, Ricarda spoke at a press conference saying that German-Israeli citizens will receive support from Germany and that the German government is "really serious" and "trying to find solutions". Baerbock said that Germany is "in communications with all actors who have contact with Hamas" to send a message that the hostages must be freed.[63] Members of the families, including the Louk family, subsequently met with German chancellor Olaf Scholz during his 17 October solidarity visit to Israel.[64] The German authorities had counted Louk as one of their nationals taken hostage during the war,[65] and many were erroneously believing that she had been abducted.[66]

Louk's father, Nissim Louk, participated in the campaign less conspicuously, not wanting to draw attention to his military and intelligence background. He travelled to the United States where he talked to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and also with U.S. senators.[67]

Confirmation of death

 
A poster of Louk among posters of kidnapping victims at a public display in Ramat Gan in December 2023. The black ribbon and the handwritten note near the bottom indicate that the person is no longer living.

On 30 October 2023, the German and Israeli governments confirmed Louk's death. Forensic examiners found the petrous part of the temporal bone from her skull on a road leading out of the festival grounds,[59][62] with her DNA.[68][69][70] Dislodgement of this bone is indicative of death, according to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute.[71] Israel considers her to have been killed before her body was transported to Gaza.[72] In response to the new information, Focus wrote that it became certain that she was killed during the massacre.[73]

Isaac Herzog, President of Israel, told the German tabloid Bild that Louk had been "decapitated";[74] his spokesperson corrected this, saying that "the fact that a significant part of her skull was found triggered fears that she had been decapitated."[75][76][77] Despite the correction, the false information spread on social media and was repeated in several German politicians' statements.[76]

 
Shani Louk's grave on the day of her funeral

Louk's body was recovered by the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet on 17 May 2024 in a Gaza Strip tunnel, along with the bodies of three other people (two of whom were also victims from the music festival massacre).[7] Prior to the body being found, the family could not conduct the funeral,[78] but they sat shiva,[56] during which their home was visited by around 4,000 people in expression of solidarity, according to Ricarda.[79] Louk's funeral took place on 19 May, in Srigim, and was attended by hundreds.[80][81]

See also

Notes

  1. ^
    • The Guardian: "A young Israeli-German woman whose fate became indelibly associated around the globe with the Hamas massacre and mass kidnapping rampage of 7 October was killed during the attack, her family has said."[1]
  2. ^ Recognized by Louk's mother and verified by CNN[30][31]
  3. ^
    • The Guardian: "Hours later video emerged of the body of a woman, in the back of a white pickup truck with several gunmen being taken to Gaza, who her family quickly recognised."[1]
    • The Times: "The video footage of Shani’s lifeless body, splayed face down on the back of a pick-up truck, was widely circulated during the early days of the war."[32]

References

  1. ^ a b Beaumont, Peter (30 October 2023). "Family of Shani Louk, woman Hamas took to Gaza, confirm she was killed". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  2. ^ a b Fischer, Jan-Frederik; Schiller, Eva (10 October 2023). "Israel: Shani Louk – Deutsche Geisel der Hamas lebt" [Israel: Shani Louk – German Hamas hostage alive]. ZDF (in German). Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023. Das Video der schwer verletzten Shani Louk erlangte im Internet große Bekanntheit. (transl. The video of seriously injured Shani Louk became widely known on the Internet.)
  3. ^ "Guerre Israël-Hamas : Ofer, Ohad, Eliya, Orion... Qui sont les quatre otages français toujours retenus ?" [Israel-Hamas war: Ofer, Ohad, Eliya, Orion... Who are the four French hostages still being held?]. Sud Ouest (in French). 1 December 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023. Il était le petit ami de Shani Louk, cette germano-israélienne dont l'image du corps mutilé exposé à l'arrière d'un pick-up par des membres du Hamas est devenue le symbole des horreurs des attaques du 7 octobre. (transl. He was Shani Louk's boyfriend, the German-Israeli; the image of her mutilated body exposed in the back of a pickup truck by Hamas members became a symbol of the horrors of the October 7 attacks)
  4. ^ Giebel, Marcus (22 October 2023). "Nach Entführung von Shani Louk: Cousine bekommt Fake-Nachrichten über Geisel-Aufenthaltsort" [After Shani Louk's kidnapping: Cousin receives fake news about the hostage's whereabouts]. Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  5. ^ "Jahresrückblick 2023 von Studio Friedrichshafen: September bis Dezember" [2023 in review by Studio Friedrichshafen: September to December]. Südwestrundfunk (in German). 29 December 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  6. ^ a b Magramo, Kathleen; Tanno, Sophie; Antoinette, Radford (19 May 2024). ""She can rest": Shani Louk's parents grateful after their daughter's body is returned from Gaza". CNN. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  7. ^ a b Ravid, Barak (18 May 2024). "IDF recovers bodies of four hostages held by Hamas in Gaza". Axios.
  8. ^ Manhardt, Ifat (13 December 2023). "Shani Louk was murdered on October 7: 'She was simply too good for this world'". Ynet. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  9. ^ Kensche, Christine (8 October 2023). "Israel: In einer Grube stellten sie und ihre Freundin sich zwei Stunden lang tot" [She and her friend played dead in a pit for two hours]. Die Welt (in German). Archived from the original on 12 October 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023. Es folgt eine Aufnahme des deutschen Reisepasses der Tochter: Shani Nicole Louk, geboren am 7. Februar 2001 (transl. Below is a photo of the daughter's German passport: Shani Nicole Louk, born on 7 February 2001)
  10. ^ "Relatives of dozens killed or kidnapped to Gaza from rave: 'Nobody is helping us'". Times of Israel. 8 October 2023. Archived from the original on 12 October 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  11. ^ a b Kalisch, Muriel (8 October 2023). "Israel: Shani Louk, die Deutsche in der Gewalt der Hamas" [Israel: Shani Louk, the German in the hands of Hamas]. Der Spiegel (in German). Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023. Die Familie hat die junge Frau auf dem Video erkannt, ein Ex-Freund von Shani Louk hat es ihnen zugeschickt. ... Die 22-Jährige lebt allein in Tel Aviv... (transl. The family recognized the young woman in the video; an ex-boyfriend of Shani Louk sent it to them. ... The 22-year-old lives alone in Tel Aviv...)
  12. ^ Haas, Elise (10 October 2023). "'Tragic loss': One-time Portlander taken by Hamas". KOIN.com. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  13. ^ "22-Jährige von Hamas-Terroristen entführt"Wo bist du?" Mutter der verschleppten Shani über letztes Telefonat mit ihrer Tochter". FOCUS. 9 October 2023. Archived from the original on 16 October 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
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  18. ^ "'She's alive': Mum claims Shani Louk is fighting for life in Gaza hospital". The New Zealand Herald. 10 October 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  19. ^ a b c Gillett, Francesca (8 October 2023). "How an Israel music festival turned into a nightmare after Hamas attack". BBC News. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  20. ^ Tabachnick, Cara (8 October 2023). "Israelis search for loved ones with posts and pleas on social media". CBS News. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  21. ^ a b Borschel-Dan, Amanda (7 October 2023). "Thousands flee rocket and gunfire at all-night desert 'Nature Party'; dozens missing". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  22. ^ "Opinion | Massacre at the Israel Music Festival". The Wall Street Journal. 9 October 2023. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  23. ^ a b c Morris, Loveday; Piper, Imogen; Sohyun Lee, Joyce; George, Susannah (8 October 2023). "How a night of dancing and revelry in Israel turned into a massacre". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023. In the video, the woman is facedown in the bed of the truck with four militants, apparently being paraded through Gaza. One holds her hair while another raises a gun in the air and shouts, "Allahu akbar!" A crowd follows the truck cheering. A boy spits in her hair.
  24. ^ Vieira, Eli (9 October 2023). "Shani Louk, a alemã morta, despida e vilipendiada pelos terroristas palestinos" (in Portuguese). Gazeta do Povo. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  25. ^ Tanno, Sophie (8 October 2023). "Festivalgoers, children, soldiers: What we know about the people captured by Hamas". CNN. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  26. ^ "Deutsche von Hamas verschleppt: Mutter von Shani Louk berichtet von letztem Gespräch mit Tochter – Blutbad bei Festival" [German kidnapped by Hamas: Shani Louk's mother reports on last conversation with daughter – bloodbath at the festival]. Rundschau Online (in German). 9 October 2023. Archived from the original on 13 October 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  27. ^ "Shani Louk: Mother pleads for help as daughter goes missing at festival". BBC News. 8 October 2023. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  28. ^ Khan, Azhar (7 October 2023). "Israel Attack: Hamas Militants Parade Naked Body Of Israeli Woman In Open Truck; Disturbing Video Surfaces". The Free Press Journal. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  29. ^ a b "Mutter: Shani Louk ist tot" [Mother: Shani Louk is dead]. n-tv. 30 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023. Bilder und Videos, die im Internet kursierten, zeigten demnach den leblosen Körper der jungen Frau auf einem Pick-up. (transl. Pictures and videos circulating on the Internet showed the young woman's lifeless body on a pickup truck.)
  30. ^ Abdelaziz, Salma (14 October 2023). "The "I want my family back." Relatives of hostages taken by Hamas plead for their release". CNN. Archived from the original on 20 October 2023. Retrieved 14 October 2023. The mother of German-Israeli national Shani Louk, who was seen unconscious at the festival in a video authenticated by CNN, said, "I still have hope."
  31. ^ McKernan, Bethan; Michaelson, Ruth; Graham-Harrison, Emma; Kierszenbaum, Quique; Balousha, Hazem; Taha, Sufian; Sherwood, Harriet; Beaumont, Peter (14 October 2023). "Seven days of terror that shook the world and changed the Middle East". The Observer. Archived from the original on 20 October 2023. Retrieved 14 October 2023. Another video appeared to show a partygoer, reported to be Shani Louk, a 23-year-old German-Israeli dual national, being paraded through the streets of Gaza. CNN said it had verified a video showing her being driven in a truck guarded by a man carrying a rocket-propelled grenade, while another held her by the hair.
  32. ^ Weiniger, Gabrielle (2 November 2023). "Shani Louk's mother tells of agony after festivalgoer snatched by Hamas is confirmed dead". The Times. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  33. ^ a b Squires, Nick (11 October 2023). "German woman paraded by Hamas after festival massacre is 'still alive'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023. In video footage that emerged subsequently, she was seen lying seemingly unconscious, face down in the back of a pick-up truck in Gaza that was full of jeering Hamas militants.
    ... a man pulled her hair while another, outside the truck, spat on her head.
  34. ^ Boffey, Daniel; Jones, Sam (13 October 2023). "Israel's darkest day: the 24 hours of terror that shook the country". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 October 2023. Retrieved 14 October 2023. A video emerged of Shani Louk, 23, lifeless in the back of a truck, spat upon by Hamas fighters, legs unnaturally bent and her hair matted with blood.
  35. ^
    • Hofmann, Frank (3 November 2023). "Israel: Die Videos des Hamas-Terrors" [Israel: The Videos of Hamas Terror]. Deutsche Welle (in German). Retrieved 4 November 2023. Auf diesem Ausschnitt ist deutlich eine stark blutende Wunde am Kopf der Getöteten zu erkennen. Es erscheint kaum vorstellbar, dass sie diese tiefe Wunde in der Schädeldecke lange überleben konnte. (transl. In this clip one can clearly see a heavily bleeding wound on the victim's head. It seems hard to imagine that she was able to survive this deep wound to her cranial roof for long.)
    • Murphy, Paul P.; Goodwin, Allegra; Brown, Benjamin (8 October 2023). "Militants in Gaza cheer as motionless hostage is paraded around, video shows". CNN. Retrieved 20 October 2023. Louk is seen motionless in the video.
      One gunman, carrying a rocket-propelled grenade, has his leg draped over her waist; the other holds a clump of her dreadlocks. "Allahu Akbar," they cheer – "God is Great," in Arabic.
      Some of the crowd gathered around the truck, just outside of the Al-Shalfoh bakery and grocery store, join in the cheers. One man spits on Louk's head as the car drives off.
    • Parth, Christian; Frehse, Lea (14 October 2023). "Die verzweifelte Suche nach der kleinsten Spur" [The desperate search for the smallest trace]. Die Zeit. Archived from the original on 15 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023. Die letzte wirkliche Spur, die ihre Eltern von Shani haben, ist das Video, das kurz darauf um die Welt gegangen ist: Shani, scheinbar leblos auf der Ladefläche eines Pick-ups der Hamas, beinahe nackt, das rechte Bein unnatürlich abgewinkelt. Männer um sie herum brüllen "Allahu Akbar", "Gott ist groß", einer zieht an Shanis Haaren. Ein Jugendlicher spuckt ihr auf den Kopf. (transl. The last real trace their parents have of Shani is the video that went around the world shortly afterwards: Shani, apparently lifeless on the loading area of a pick-up from Hamas, almost naked, the right leg unnaturally angled. Men around them roar "Allahu Akbar", "God is great", one pulls on Shani's hair. A teenager spits on her head.)
    • "Shani Louk's mother learned of her capture from Israeli music festival after seeing viral video". CNN. 8 October 2023. Archived from the original on 15 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023. In video authenticated and geolocated by CNN, Shani can be seen unconscious in the back of a vehicle, being paraded around Gaza. One gunman, carrying a rocket propelled grenade, has his leg draped over her waist; the other holds a clump of her dreadlocks. "Allahu Akbar," they cheer — "God is Great," in Arabic.
    • Sharon, Jeremy (8 October 2023). "Footage of Hamas assault on civilians shows likely war crimes, experts say". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023. Hamas operatives are seen celebrating and cheering in the pickup truck in which they had placed Louk's body, which was contorted in an unnatural angle, while Palestinians surrounding the truck shouted, "Allahu Akbar" [God is greatest in Arabic]. Two of the men spit on her.
    • Murphy, Paul P.; Goodwin, Allegra; Brown, Benjamin; Paget, Sharif (9 October 2023). "Desert horror: Music festival goers heard rockets, then Gaza militants fired on them and took hostages". CNN. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023. In the video, Louk is seen motionless. One gunman, carrying a rocket propelled grenade, has his leg draped over her waist; the other holds a clump of her dreadlocks. "Allahu Akbar," they cheer – meaning "God is great" in Arabic.
      Some of the crowd gathered around the truck join in the cheers. One man spits on Louk's head as the car drives off.
    • "Images of the Mass Kidnapping of Israelis by Hamas". The Atlantic. 9 October 2023. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023. [V]ideo shows a woman, later identified by her family as 22-year-old Shani Louk, stripped down to her underwear and lying face down in a truck, her legs twisted at unnatural angles. Hamas gunmen sit on her body, and bystanders spit on it.
    • McKernan, Bethan (18 January 2024). "Evidence points to systematic use of rape and sexual violence by Hamas in 7 October attacks". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 January 2024. In videos from 7 October, the body of a young woman is lying face down in the back of a pickup truck, stripped to her underwear, one leg bent at an unnatural angle. One of the men sitting next to her pulls her long hair as armed men around him shout praises to God. Footage of the lifeless corpse of Shani Louk, a 22-year-old Israeli-German national, paraded around the streets of Gaza was some of the first to surface on 7 October, ...
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    That's how Israeli authorities came to declare Louk dead, after recovering the sliver of her skull. The rest of her body appears to be held by Hamas, according to a video released by militants.
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