Shani Louk, a German-Israeli woman who was thought to have been kidnapped by Hamas during the attack on a music festival on Oct. 7, was killed at some point during that attack and possibly beheaded, according to Israel's president.
Louk, 22, came to international attention after she was seen being paraded half-naked and apparently unconscious in the back of a pickup truck in Gaza after Hamas attacked a music festival in Re'im on Oct. 7. Louk was initially believed to be kidnapped, but Israeli officials recently informed her family that human remains were matched to her DNA.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog told the German newspaper Bild that Louk's "skull was found," and added, "This means that these barbaric, sadistic animals simply chopped off her head as they attacked, tortured and killed Israelis." Though Israeli officials have not publicly revealed Louk's cause of death or confirmed many details, some reports state that she was shot in the head and that her head was later found but not the rest of her body.
German and Israeli media report that the Israeli Defense Forces and Zika, an organization of volunteer emergency responders, informed Louk's family that a bone from the base of her skull had been located and matched to her DNA and that medical experts determined a person could not live without this bone, and therefore there is no possibility that Louk is still alive.
"For me, this news is terrible," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters while on an official trip to Africa. "This shows all the barbarism that lies behind Hamas."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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