The parents of Shani Louk, the German-Israeli woman who was killed while trying to escape the Nova music festival on October 7, have expressed their gratitude at being able to lay her body to rest after it was recovered from the Gaza Strip in an Israel Defense Forces operation.
“I was relieved, because we didn’t know where she was,” Shani’s father, Nissim Louk, said during an interview with i24 News. “Maybe they threw her into a well or maybe she’s buried somewhere.”
He continued: “Yesterday we got all the answers and we closed this loop. We are happy that now she will have her own place next to us, and we can go there whenever we want, and she can rest.”
Nissim had previously told Israeli media that his daughter’s body was very well-preserved because it had been kept in a “deep and very cold tunnel.”
Louk’s remains were retrieved alongside the bodies of two others who were taken hostage on October 7 and killed while escaping the music festival: Amit Bouskila and Itshak Gelernter.
CNN analyst and Axios reporter Barak Ravid, citing an IDF spokesperson, reporte the bodies were found in a tunnel in Gaza.
Louk, 23, attended the Nova music festival just inside Israel before it was attacked by gunmen from Palestinian militant group Hamas. Her lifeless body was seen in video on the back of a Hamas truck after the attack.
She was declared dead by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in late October. A source involved with her identification told CNN Louk’s death was announced after forensic examiners found a bone fragment from her skull.
