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Misleading information has extended the pain of families caught up in the October 7 attack in Israel, the mother of German-Israeli victim Shani Louk has said.
Ricarda Louk told how the family had seen what appeared to be their daughter’s body on video but had clung to false hope after being told she might be alive and among the hostages taken into Gaza.
Ms Louk had been attending the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re'im, in southern Israel, when Hamas attacked.
Images seen in the aftermath showed her lying in the back of a pick-up truck as it was being driven to Gaza but it now seems she was already dead.
For three weeks unofficial information from Gaza indicated she might have been alive but badly wounded, the family said.
“This actually gave us the most hope that she’s alive and that she’s there,” Ricarda added.
“If you saw the video, you can imagine how I felt,” she said in comments first reported by The Times newspaper.
“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."
Although there had been media speculation that she was dead, Ms Louk's mother said she had believed her daughter was alive.
"We were sent a video in which I could clearly see our daughter unconscious in the car with the Palestinians and them driving around the Gaza Strip," Ricarda said.
But the family's worst fears were realised when the Israeli army confirmed fragments of Ms Louk’s skull had been discovered near the festival site.
“A human being cannot live without this piece they found,” her mother said. “They found it on the Israeli side, so it means it’s from the first day [October 7] — because on that first day, after a few hours, we had already seen a video of her body in the Gaza Strip.
“It’s like you’re in a bad movie and you want to wake up. A bad dream. It’s devastating.”
She also spoke of their fears that they would be left without knowing what had happened to their daughter.
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A girl is rescued from the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli air strikes in Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip. AP Photo -
An Apache helicopter fires flares, seen from Sderot in southern Israel, close to the border with Gaza. Reuters -
Palestinians plug their phones into portable charging stations on a street in Khan Younis, Gaza. Bloomberg -
Residents search survivors among the rubble following Israeli strikes on Jabalia, northern Gaza. EPA -
Palestinians search for survivors and bodies following Israeli airstrikes at the Jabalia, the largest refugee camp in Gaza. AP -
Palestinians look for survivors among the rubble of destroyed buildings following Israeli strikes on Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. AP -
Palestinians look for survivors among the rubble of destroyed buildings following Israeli strikes on Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. AP -
A fire burns in western Gaza after an Israeli air strike. Reuters -
Missiles are fired from Israel towards the Gaza Strip. Getty Images -
Smoke rises from an explosion in Gaza. Getty Images -
A group of men survey the destruction following air strikes on Al Shatee camp in Gaza city, as Israeli forces entered the northern area of the Gaza Strip. AFP -
A man drives a damaged car following air strikes on Gaza city. AFP -
A man pushes a bicycle past the remains of buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes on Al Shatee camp in Gaza city. AFP -
A woman and children walk past a house destroyed in Israeli strikes on Al Shatee camp in Gaza city. AFP -
People dig through the rubble of a destroyed building following Israeli strikes on Al Shatee camp in Gaza city. AFP -
A man drives a damaged car past a building destroyed in Israeli strikes on Al Shatee camp in Gaza city. AFP -
People gather amid the destruction following Israeli strikes on Al Shatee camp in Gaza city. AFP -
Wrecked vehicles and rubble on the streets following Israeli strikes on Al Shatee camp in Gaza city. AFP -
Smoke rises from the northern Gaza Strip as Israeli air and ground forces amplified their military activities against Hamas. EPA -
An Israeli Apache attack helicopter flies close to the border with the Gaza Strip, near Israel's southern city of Ashkelon. AFP -
Israeli soldiers in an armoured personnel carrier on patrol near Israel's border with Gaza. EPA -
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Israeli soldiers prepare for ground manoeuvres at an undisclosed location in Israel near the border with Gaza. EPA -
The ruins of northern Gaza seen from Sderot in southern Israel. EPA -
Smoke and explosions caused by Israeli bombardment over northern Gaza. AP Photo -
An explosion on the Israel-Gaza border. Reuters -
A video grab shows fireballs and smoke rising above Gaza city following an Israeli attack. AFP -
An explosion in Gaza seen from Sderot in southern Israel. Reuters -
A video grab shows rockets fired from Gaza city. AFP -
Israeli air strikes in the northern Gaza Strip. AP Photo -
A video grab shows a salvo of rockets fired from Gaza city. AFP -
A flare trail fired by the Israeli army east of Khan Younis on the southern Gaza Strip. AFP -
Smoke from the bombing of the Gaza Strip over the Israeli border city of Ashkelon. AFP -
Flares over Gaza as seen from Sderot in southern Israel. Reuters
“Worst of all would be that all the hostages come back and she wouldn’t be one of them, and we would wonder all our lives where she is and what happened to her without knowing, maybe ever.
“That would be our worst nightmare we can think of.”
The family is now observing shiva, a week-long mourning period, but they cannot hold a funeral until the body is returned.
The student from Berlin was on holiday in Israel when she attended the event close to the Gaza border.
