Shani Louk’s brother reveals ‘our whole family crashed’ when they saw her being paraded by Hamas ‘spitting on her like she was nothing’ after Israel terror attack but says ‘hatred only leads to a cycle of hate’

• Shani Louk, 23, killed by Hamas terrorists after they attacked festival in Israel
• Her brother said ‘family crashed’ when they saw video of her being paraded
• Follow MailOnline’s live blog for all the latest updates on the Israel-Hamas war

Shani Louk’s heartbroken brother has revealed his ‘whole family crashed’ when they saw the abducted festivalgoer being paraded by Hamas terrorists on a truck where they were ‘spitting on her like she was nothing’. 

Amit Louk, 20, said he was horrified to watch the video of his 23-year-old sister lying motionless and half-naked in the back of a truck, with one leg at an unnatural angle, while being surrounded by four terrorists shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’. 

The last time he had heard from Shani was on the phone, as she frantically tried to escape the Nova electronic festival near Kibbutz Re’im in her car on October 7 as Hamas gunmen shot at anyone they saw.

‘She said we’re leaving right now, don’t worry,’ Amit tells Sky News. ‘But the terrorists were waiting on the road.’ Shani’s family now believe that within minutes of Shani and her friends trying to escape, they were met by Hamas terrorists who shot at the vehicle, killing the 23-year-old ‘instantly’.

The next time they saw Shani would be in a harrowing video, where Shani’s half-naked body was splayed in the back of a truck, surrounded by terrorists and jeering crowds who spat on her. 

‘I never thought I was going to be in contact with this type of video, seeing my sister in that brutal position,’ Amit said. ‘And just in that moment, the whole family just crashed for a few weeks.’ 

‘It was so hard to actually see this brutality. Even though we know [Hamas] can reach this level of non-humanity, they just spat on her and treated her like she was nothing,’ Amit said. But he said he didn’t want to feel hatred ‘because hatred only leads to a cycle of hate’. 

After seeing the video, Shani’s family hoped in vain that she was still alive, albeit in a critical condition, inside a hospital in Hamas-controlled Gaza. 

But after more than three weeks of helplessly waiting for news, her heartbroken parents received the knock on the door they were dreading on Monday: Israeli soldiers had found fragments of her skull, meaning Shani was among the 270 people killed in the horrific massacre. 

Amit Louk, 20, said he was horrified to watch the video of his 23-year-old sister lying motionless and half-naked in the back of a truck, with one leg at an unnatural angle, while being surrounded by four terrorists shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’

Shani Louk was killed by Hamas terrorists when they attacked the festival in southern Israel

Ms Louk’s motionless body was paraded by Hamas gunmen after the festival attack in Israel. It was unclear if she was alive in the video, although her mother later stated that she was alive and being held in a Gaza hospital

The last time Amit had heard from Shani (pictured together) was on the phone, as she frantically tried to escape the Nova electronic festival near Kibbutz Re’im in her car on October 7 as Hamas gunmen shot at anyone they saw.

Nissim and Ricarda Louk, the parents of Shani Louk, 22, are photographed in their home in Srigim-Li On, Israel, on Tuesday. Ricarda said seeing the video of her daughter’s lifeless body in the back of that truck, surrounded by jeering terrorists who spat on her, was like living through a ‘horror movie’

‘A human cannot live without this piece they found,’ Shani’s mother Ricarda, 53, told The Times. ‘They found it on the Israeli side, so it means it’s from the first day – because on that first day, after a few hours, we had already seen a video of her body in the Gaza Strip.’ 

Ricarda said seeing the video of her daughter’s lifeless body in the back of that truck, surrounded by jeering terrorists who spat on her, was like living through a ‘horror movie’. 

‘If you saw the video, you can imagine how I felt,’ Ricarda said. ‘You feel like you’re in a horror movie, when you see your own daughter being transported like this by those barbarian people and everybody celebrating and spitting on her. 

‘It’s like you’re in a bad movie and you want to wake up. It’s devastating.’

Ricarda and her husband Nissim had believed Shani was still alive at that point after receiving messages from a source saying she was being treated in hospital for a head injury. 

For weeks, Ricarda, bolstered by the hope her daughter was alive, and her family urged the German government to intervene. But on Monday, ‘we got the news that she died,’ Ricarda said. 

Shani had been dancing at the music event along with her friends on October 7, not noticing the black-clad paragliders descending on the fields surrounding the festival with their grenades and machine guns.

But the young revellers soon heard the sound of air raid sirens and saw the rockets streak overhead. 

Nissim said his daughter and her friends tried to escape in Shani’s car, but the terrorists shot at her car, killing his daughter ‘instantly’.

Speaking from their family home and holding Ricarda’s hand tightly, Nissim said: ‘As a father, I’m sad that all of this happened. But on the other hand, I’m a little relieved because first of all she didn’t suffer. She died on the spot. Just before that she was dancing all night at the party and she was with her best friends. She was happy.

‘For a few seconds, I know she would have felt fear… of the unknown and death.

‘As parents, it’s not easy. But we are happy at least that we know for sure that she didn’t suffer a lot. It’s of course it’s hard.’ 

Shani Louk, 22, was kidnapped from Israel to Gaza by Hamas terrorists on October 7 from the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im. Hamas gunmen took at least 200 hostages and killed about 1,400 people during the dawn raid

Shani Louk (right) is pictured alongside her cousin

Ricarda and her husband Nissim (pictured together at their home) had believed Shani was still alive at that point after receiving messages from a source saying she was being treated in hospital for a head injury

Shani’s mother, Ricarda, holding up a picture of her daughter on her mobile phone in an emotional video appeal begging for help to find out what happened to her daughter

But even after Shani’s death was confirmed after the base of her skull was found, details about what happened to her were hazy. 

Israeli President Yitzchak Herzog had appeared to exaggerate what happened to Shani by claiming the young festivalgoer was beheaded by the terrorists.

‘Her skull was found,’ Herzog told Bild newspaper on Monday. ‘This means that these barbaric, sadistic animals simply chopped off her head as they attacked, tortured and killed Israelis.’ 

But Shani’s family all say she was killed instantly as she was trying to flee the terrorists. 

Orit Sulitzeanu, executive director at the Association of Rape Crises Centres in Israel, said: ‘Our leaders should be very sensitive and very careful about the information they give. We are talking about cruelties the mind cannot comprehend and accuracy is very important.’ 

Shani’s parents and siblings – Amit, 20, Or, 14, and Adi, 25 – are now sitting shiva, a week-long mourning period observed in Judaism. But Amit says they were unable to bury his older sister. 

‘There are not enough fragments,’ Amit said, adding that they will find another way to honour her. 

For Shani’s family, they say they will remember her for her happiness and how much she had fun and travelled. 

Ricarda said: ‘She was a very unconventional girl,  she really knew what she wanted, what she wanted to do. She was independent, she lived in Tel Aviv earning her own money. 

‘She was happy, she was having fun and travelled. So she really used her time to do all the beautiful things she wanted to do – at least that we know.’

Video shows a smiling Shani, who loved to travel according to her family, dancing at the music festival moments before she was captured by the terrorists

German tattoo artist named Shani Louk has been confirmed dead 

Her family, who were desperately hoping that Shani was still alive despite the footage of her body, said she was a pacifist and a peace campaigner who was known for her involvement in organising music festivals

Shani, who grew up in Israel but had a German passport, was a peace campaigner and conscientious objector to military service, her aunt Orly Louk, told the German newspaper Der Spiegel. 

Orly said Shani had refused to take up the military service that is mandatory for Israelis due to her pacifist views, adding that her German passport helped with this. 

Shani is now among the 270 people massacred by Hamas terrorists at the festival, where survivors described how the gunmen went ‘tree by tree’ executing victims. 

Survivors of the attack posted clips of the ordeal to social media, showing how they were forced to hide under bushes and record hushed farewell messages to their loved ones as they watched victims get killed one by one.

Many lay still in sheer terror for more than five hours before they heard the sound of armed rescuers speaking in Hebrew.

Terrifying video shows Hamas gunmen immediately opening fire on hundreds of terrified Israeli festivalgoers when the terrorists saw them running for their lives across a field.

Video taken from a terrorist’s truck shows the rampaging gunmen driving along a road, covered with the bodies of their already slain victims and their bullet-riddled cars, and unleashing more horrors that defy belief.

It was here that the gunmen, drawn to the sound of crackling gunfire up ahead, saw hundreds of screaming youngsters running across the next field from the Supernova festival where they had seen their friends shot dead by Hamas terrorists.

Without hesitation, two gunmen raised their assault rifles and began firing shots one after the other at the fleeing revellers. Within seconds, dozens of other terrorists jumped out of their pickup trucks and began taking potshots too. 

Some fire from a machine gun-mounted truck, while one gunman jumps onto the bonnet of a slain victim’s abandoned car to shoot over the trees at the screaming revellers, mowing them down one by one with their hail of bullets.

The sickening sound of gunshots continues for 40 seconds –  the terrorists unrelenting in their savagery. Apparently deciding that there were no more victims to shoot, the gunmen are seen turning back to their trucks before the video cuts out.

Within seconds of Hamas terrorists seeing hundreds of terrified Israeli festivalgoers running for their lives across a field, the gunmen ruthlessly shot them one by one without hesitation, sickening new footage shows

It was here that the gunmen, their ears pricking at the sound of crackling gunfire up ahead, saw hundreds of screaming youngsters running across the next field from the Supernova festival where they had seen their friends shot dead by Hamas terrorists 

Moments before they had launched this particular attack on their victims, many of whom were in their twenties or early thirties, the gunmen had already shot dead scores of revellers who had tried to flee the massacre in their cars.

The dashcam footage shows the terrorists drive through the carnage that they had unleashed. They drive past two victims who had been ruthlessly shot in the head lying next to their bullet-riddled car, their blood now covering the tarmac.

Further on, two cars are seen on fire, only the charred remains remain. A suitcase lies discarded in the middle of the road.

Many of the abandoned cars that line the street stand with their front doors still open in a sign of how the desperate revellers tried to flee on foot after they saw the gunmen begin opening fire at their vehicles. In one harrowing scene, the body of a man is seen lying next to a car as Hamas terrorists stand over him.

Survivors have told how they ran through that open field as the terrorists mowed down their friends and other revellers with bursts of automatic gunfire. Many of the victims were shot in the back as they ran. 

 

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