German-Israeli Shani Louk\u2019s father says that finally laying his daughter to rest will be a gift after her body was recovered from Gaza, months after she was killed in Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.
\nLouk, a 23-year-old tattoo artist, was celebrating with friends at the Nova music festival just inside Israel before it was attacked by gunmen from the Palestinian militant group. Her body was soon seen in a video, slung across the back of a pickup truck, surrounded by gunmen and paraded through Gaza.
\nOn Friday, the Israeli military informed her parents, Nissim and Ricarda Louk, that their daughter\u2019s body had been found by Israeli commandos in Gaza. Nissim Louk said that to be sure, he had viewed photos.
\n\u201cWe also saw the tattoos on her hands,\u201d he said on Saturday. \u201cNow she will have her own place next to us and we can go there whenever we want. And she can rest.\u201d
\nHe said the funeral will be held on Sunday, which is Ricarda Louk\u2019s birthday.
\n\u201cI think Shani said \u2018let\u2019s give my mother a birthday present and let\u2019s go back and be close to her\u2019,\u201d he added.
\nHaving Shani\u2019s grave nearby would be a comfort, said Ricarda Louk.
\n\u201cMaybe we\u2019ll find more peace,\u201d she said.
\nNissim Louk said there was also solace knowing Shani was doing what she loved best before she died and probably did not suffer. She was pronounced dead by Israeli authorities at the end of October, based on findings in the area of the Nova rave, where more than 360 people were shot, bludgeoned or burned to death.
\nVideos of a smiling Shani at the party, before the attack, surfaced in the following weeks.
\n\u201cShe was dancing the whole night. She was so happy,\u201d Nissim Louk said. \u201cShe never thought that there is evil in the world because she was a free spirit. She saw it only for a couple of seconds.\u201d
\nAround 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 abducted in the Hamas-led attack, according to Israeli tallies. Israel responded by launching a military offensive to try to eradicate Hamas that is now in its eight month.
\nMore than 35,000 people have since been killed in Gaza, the Palestinian health ministry says. Most of the coastal enclave\u2019s population has been displaced and much of it has been laid to waste in the offensive, which has drawn fierce criticism abroad.
\nRicarda Louk said she was pained by what she sees as ignorance and misinformation displayed at some U.S. campus protests against Israel\u2019s war in Gaza.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s horrible for us to see,\u201d she said. \u201cWe can tell you from our own experience. We lost our daughter in this massacre.\u201d
\n\u201cThere is no resistance that can justify what happened here,\u201d she said.
\n(Reuters)grave. laying to rest, recovery, gift<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shani Louk, a 23-year-old tattoo artist, was killed in Hamas’ attack on southern Israel. Her body was recovered months later from Gaza and will finally be laid to rest, bringing comfort to her parents. Shani’s funeral will be held on her mother’s birthday, providing solace to her family. Shani was doing what she loved at the Nova music festival before the attack and likely did not suffer. The attack resulted in over 1,200 deaths and 250 abductions, leading to an Israeli military offensive against Hamas. The conflict has caused widespread destruction in Gaza, with thousands dead and many displaced. Shani’s parents express pain at the misinformation displayed at some U.S. campus protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza, emphasizing the personal impact of the tragedy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":12340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1521,1915,383,8575,7296,8693,8270,6432,4758,2692,3502,3194,2459,8017,2497,7716,145,5935,3092,298,7473,210,2581,7905,299,1350,10487,387,7089,3504,7632,699,8802,10444,9485,5328,4834,456,8719,864,577,5115,720,7608,6032,4682,380,2389,293,6024,884,1944,18],"class_list":["post-12339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-1521","tag-artist","tag-attack","tag-authorities","tag-birthday","tag-campus-protests","tag-comfort","tag-conflict","tag-criticism","tag-death","tag-deaths","tag-destruction","tag-family","tag-father","tag-festival","tag-friends","tag-gaza","tag-gift","tag-gunmen","tag-hamas","tag-hamas-led-attack","tag-health","tag-health-ministry","tag-impact","tag-israel","tag-israeli-military","tag-laying-to-rest","tag-lost","tag-militant","tag-military","tag-misinformation","tag-music","tag-pain","tag-palestinian-militant","tag-parents","tag-party","tag-peace","tag-photos","tag-pickup-truck","tag-population","tag-protests","tag-recovery","tag-rest","tag-shot","tag-tragedy","tag-truck","tag-us","tag-video","tag-war","tag-war-in-gaza","tag-waste","tag-woman","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n