A 23-year-old German-Israeli woman who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival by Hamas militants on October 7 has been declared dead, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.
“We are devastated to share that the body of 23 year old German-Israeli Shani (Louk) was found and identified,” the ministry posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday.
The bone fragment was from the petrous part of the temporal bone, which is at the base of the skull, normally near the carotid artery, a major blood vessel that provides blood to the brain. A DNA test concluded the fragment belonged to Louk.
Louk was attending the festival in southern Israel on October 7 when Hamas breached the border between Gaza and Israel.
Louk was kidnapped at the festival and “tortured and paraded around Gaza by Hamas terrorists,” the foreign ministry statement said, adding that she “experienced unfathomable horrors.”
“May her memory be a blessing,” the statement said.
The bone fragment, combined with the circumstances surrounding the October 7 attack and video that appeared to show Louk unconscious on the back of a Hamas truck, led investigators to conclude these were her remains.
Militants blocked off the road to the festival from the north and the south during their October 7 attack, before swarming the sprawling site on foot, videos from the site showed.
They then encircled the crowds on three sides, gunning them down and forcing them to flee over fields to the east.
“It looks very bad, but I still have hope. I hope that they don’t take bodies for negotiations. I hope that she’s still alive somewhere. We don’t have anything else to hope for, so I try to believe,” she said.
The body of Louk, a dual Israeli-German citizen, was seen on video seemingly unconscious on the back of a Hamas truck after the music festival attack.
Her mother added that she had sought support from the German government in helping free her daughter. “I don’t understand really how such a brutal thing can just happen in the middle of the day and it was a complete surprise,” Louk said.
A number of hostages were also taken back to Gaza. The latest figure of hostages believed to be held by Hamas in the enclave is up to 239, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Sunday.
A female Israeli soldier who had been kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 was released during ground operations in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said Monday.
The IDF added that “the soldier was medically checked, is doing well, and has met with her family.”
Four hostages had previously been released – an American woman and her daughter, and later an 85-year-old Israeli woman and her 79-year-old friend.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under increasing pressure from the families of hostages for a “comprehensive deal” to ensure their release. These calls are becoming more urgent amid concerns for what Israel’s expanding ground operations could mean for the safety of hostages trapped in Gaza.
Netanyahu met with families of the hostages in Tel Aviv on Saturday, where they demanded answers on the security of their loved ones and pushed him to secure the hostages’ freedom, as Israel’s offensive escalated.
“We spoke bluntly and made it clear to the prime minister in no uncertain terms that a comprehensive deal based on the ‘everyone for everyone’ principle is a deal the families would consider, and has the support of all of Israel,” Meirav Leshem Gonen, mother of Romi Gonen, who was kidnapped from the festival, said on behalf of the families in a news conference following the meeting.
An “everyone for everyone” deal would involve the release of the hostages in exchange for Palestinians currently held in Israeli prisons, which the nongovernmental organization Palestinian Prisoners Club estimates to be 6,630 people.
On Monday, Hamas released a short video showing three women who are believed to be captives held by the Palestinian militant group.
The video shows them seated in plastic chairs facing the camera, while the woman in the middle addresses Netanyahu directly with increasing fury. She makes reference to a press conference by families of the hostages “yesterday,” suggesting it was filmed on Monday.