Shani Louk: Disturbing development after festivalgoer's naked body paraded through streets
The tourist was in Israel attending a 'festival of peace' when she was captured and killed.
A German national believed to have been taken hostage and killed by Hamas militants in Gaza was also likely robbed after her death, her family say, with bank transactions emerging showing new activity on her credit card.
Shani Louk, a German-Israeli tattoo artist, was in Israel attending a music festival when she was captured by Hamas militants who stormed the area in a surprise assault at the weekend, firing thousands of rockets and invading by land, sea and air.
The attack, the largest invasion of Israel in some 50 years, has so far seen hundreds upon hundreds of civilians killed, many more taken hostage and thousands injured.
Shocking video of Shani Louk circulates on social media
Disturbing video of Ms Louk — who was understood to have been attending the Nova "music festival of peace" at the time of her capturing — has since surfaced of her naked, lifeless body being paraded through the streets of Gaza while militants spit on her remains and tug at her hair.
The unverified footage shows Ms Louk's legs twisted in unnatural positions, prompting the assumption she was deceased at the time it was filmed. Ms Louk's signature dreadlocks and body tattoos meant she was able to be identified from the video.
In an interview with German news outlet Der Spiegel, Ms Louk's mother claimed the family "had received information from her bank" that the young tattoo artist's credit card had been used in Gaza, likely after she was killed.
Devastated mother pleads for information
Ricarda Louk spoke through tears in a video posted to X, formally known as Twitter, that she still holds out hope that her daughter might be alive, speaking after seeing the video of Shani "unconscious in a car with Palestinians."
"I just don't want to admit it yet," Ms Louk said, per Der Spiegel.
"This morning my daughter Shani Louk, a German citizen who was with a tourist group in the south of Israel, was kidnapped by Palestinian Hamas.
The mother of Shani Louk, the woman whose body was seen on video in the back of a pick-up truck driven by Palestinian terrorists to Gaza, released a statement earlier today.
She confirmed she had seen her daughter on the video & asked the public for help with more information pic.twitter.com/LDcPsjGHP8— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 8, 2023
"I was sent a video where I could clearly see my daughter unconscious in a car with Palestinians," she said in German, which was translated.
"Please send any help or news. Thank you."
Ms Louk is among the more than 100 civilians, which include children, women and the elderly, taken hostage by Palestinian fighters since war was declared by Israel on Sunday morning AEST.
Many other foreigners are reported to be missing from the same festival, including British citizen Jake Marlowe, although the Israeli embassy in the UK said it did not know if he had been taken hostage.
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