Killing of Shani Louk
On 7 October 2023, during the Re'im music festival massacre, Shani Nicole Louk (Hebrew: שני ניקול לוק), a 22-year-old German-Israeli tattoo artist and influencer, was killed. Shortly after the attack, a video circulated showing her body paraded through the streets of Gaza by Hamas militants in the back of a pickup truck. Described by security experts and commentators as Hamas's social media propaganda, it became one of the first viral videos of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. The globally-seen images turned into a visual emblem of militants' conduct toward civilians in the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
Killing of Shani Louk | |
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Part of Re'im music festival massacre | |
Location | Near Re'im, Israel |
Date | 7 October 2023 |
Victim | Shani Louk, aged 22 |
Burial | Body missing (bone fragment found) |
Perpetrator | Hamas members |
Attention was also brought to Louk's case through the campaign of her family, which began with her mother Ricarda saying that she had received information that Louk was alive and in a Gaza hospital. She appealed to the German government and received responses from top-ranking German officials. German authorities considered Louk to be among their nationals taken hostage during the war. At the end of the month, Israel confirmed Louk's death based on the discovery of a skull fragment on a road leading out of the festival grounds, suggesting that she was killed during the attack.