Skull parts found: German Shani Louk, missing after Hamas attack, is dead The Chinese army is open to talks with the US after a long radio silence

The German Shani Louk, like thousands of other young people, wanted to party and dance at the Supernova festival in the south of Israel. But the festival ended in a bloodbath on October 7 when Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip attacked Israel. At least 260 people, including Shani Louk, were killed at the party in the Negev Desert. The Israeli army informed the family of the young woman’s death on Monday evening, mother Ricarda Louk told the German news agency. The family previously believed that Shani Louk had been kidnapped to the Gaza Strip.

The news is terrible, said Ricarda Louk. But it’s good to have certainty now. “At least she didn’t suffer.” Ricarda Louk campaigned for the release of her daughter and the other hostages with numerous interviews in international media.

Terrorists carried out massacres of civilians in Israel on behalf of the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip on October 7. More than 1,400 people in Israel were killed during this and subsequent days. The Israeli military says militants have kidnapped at least 239 people in the Mediterranean.

Her daughter’s body has not yet been found, says Ricarda Louk. However, a piece of skull bone was found and a DNA sample was taken. If you damage this inner skull bone, you won’t be able to live, the mother said. The parents had long ago provided the authorities with the necessary DNA comparison material.

On Monday afternoon, the Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of the young woman on X:

Only parts of the skull were found

Israeli President Jitzhack Herzog revealed further details in an interview with a WELT reporter:

Herzog continued that about forty bodies still have not been identified.

When asked about Israeli President Izchak Herzog’s statements that Shani Louk had been beheaded, his spokesman said:

The mother believes her daughter has been dead since October 7 – the 22-year-old may have been killed by a gunshot to the skull at the Supernova festival. Photos and videos circulating on the Internet at the time showed the young woman’s body in the attackers’ pickup truck. It is unclear whether the terrorists ultimately took the woman’s body to the Gaza Strip.

The initial hope led to nothing

Her family said they recognized the young woman in the photos and turned to the public shortly afterwards to ask for help. Initially, Shani Louk’s family, some of whom live in Baden-Württemberg, assumed that the young woman suffered serious head injuries in the attack but was still alive and in the Gaza Strip. The family said they received this information from a “trusted individual in the Gaza Strip.”

Orly Louk, Shani Louk’s aunt, described the dramatic scenes at the music festival as follows: ‘She was at a party, in the desert, in no man’s land. There she danced with a group of people. (…) Shots were fired and the partygoers were chased. As far as I know, the youths ran away and hid. You can see in the videos what happened.”

After the terrorist attack, Ricarda Louk also asked the government in Berlin for help – including during a meeting with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Israel. The family complained that they had received little information from German and Israeli authorities.

Criticism of the German government

Orly Louk and her husband Wilfried Gehr were very critical of the meeting in mid-October: “Unfortunately, the feeling remains that the German Foreign Minister, the Ambassador and also the Chancellor really did not support us and all the families and only took advantage of the affected families for their selfish media appearances,” they said in a statement. But there’s no point in complaining about that. “We hope that this senseless war in Israel and all other wars will end soon.”

Hostages are still being held by Hamas. Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in the evening that the families of 239 abductees had been informed on Sunday. That’s nine more than the day before. It is expected that this number could increase even further. (saw/sda/dpa)