According to her mother, a woman who went missing following a Hamas attack has died.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has declared dead a 23-year-old German-Israeli woman kidnapped from the Nova music festival by Hamas militants on October 7.
“We are devastated to share that the body of 23-year-old German-Israeli Shani (Louk) was found and identified,” On Monday, the ministry posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
According to a source involved in her identification, Louk died after forensic examiners discovered a bone fragment from her skull.
The bone fragment came from the petrous part of the temporal bone, which is located near the carotid artery, a major blood vessel that supplies blood to the brain. A DNA test determined that the fragment belonged to Louk.
On October 7, Louk was attending a festival in southern Israel when Hamas breached the Gaza-Israel border.
The foreign ministry said Louk was kidnapped at the festival and “tortured and paraded around Gaza by Hamas terrorists,” adding that she “experienced unfathomable horrors.”
The statement concluded, “May her memory be a blessing.”
The bone fragment, along with the circumstances surrounding the October 7 attack and video showing Louk unconscious on the back of a Hamas truck, led investigators to believe these were her remains.
During their October 7 attack, militants blocked off the road to the festival from the north and south before swarming the sprawling site on foot, according to videos from the scene.
They then surrounded the crowds on three sides, shooting at them and forcing them to flee over fields to the east.
Shani’s mother, Ricarda Louk, told CNN earlier this month that she last spoke to her daughter after hearing rockets and alarms in southern Israel and calling to see if she was safe. Shani informed her mother that she was at the festival and had few options for hiding.
“She was going to her car and they had military people standing by the cars and were shooting so people couldn’t reach their cars, even to go away. And that’s when they took her,”
Ricarda told CNN she hoped to see her daughter again, but the situation appeared dire.
“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 explained.
According to Israeli rescue service Zaka, more than 260 bodies were discovered at the Nova festival site, but according to CNN’s analysis, the total death toll could be even higher.
After the music festival attack, the body of Louk, a dual Israeli-German citizen, was seen on video seemingly unconscious on the back of a Hamas truck.
“After the video, you saw that, it’s impossible to see if she’s alive or dead. It was very scary, and we were very worried,”
Louk’s mother told CNN in the days following the rampage.
Her mother went on to say that she had approached the German government for assistance in freeing 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.
Several hostages were also returned to Gaza. The number of hostages held by Hamas in the enclave has risen to 239, according to Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari on Sunday.
The Israeli Defense Forces said Monday that a female Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 was released during ground operations in Gaza.
“the soldier was medically checked, is doing well, and has met with her family.” the IDF added.
An American woman and her daughter had previously been released, as had an 85-year-old Israeli woman and her 79-year-old friend.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under increasing pressure from hostage families to reach a “comprehensive agreement” to ensure their release. These appeals are becoming more urgent as fears grow about the impact of Israel’s expanding ground operations on the safety of hostages trapped in Gaza.
As Israel’s offensive escalated, Netanyahu met with hostage families in Tel Aviv on Saturday, where they demanded answers about the safety of their loved ones and pressed him to secure the hostages’ release.
“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,”
In a news conference following the meeting, Meirav Leshem Gonen, mother of Romi Gonen, who was kidnapped from the festival, spoke on behalf of the families.
An “everyone for everyone” deal would see the hostages released in exchange for Palestinians currently held in Israeli prisons, a figure estimated by the nongovernmental organization Palestinian Prisoners Club to be 6,630 people.
On Monday, Hamas released a short video depicting three women who are believed to be Palestinian militant group captives.
The video shows them sitting in plastic chairs facing the camera, with the woman in the middle yelling at Netanyahu with increasing venom. She mentions a press conference held by the hostages’ families “yesterday,” implying it was filmed on Monday.
The women show no visible signs of physical abuse, but CNN is unable to confirm anything about their circumstances or well-being.