Israel-Hamas Flash Report 30 OCT 2023 - 15:00 PDT - Shani Louk's Remains Recovered (Patreon)

Israeli and German officials are reporting that the remains of Shani Louk, a German-Israeli citizen taken hostage on October 7, have been recovered and that Hamas beheaded her.

Louk was attending an outdoor electronic music festival 3.5 kilometers from the Gaza Strip border when Hamas attacked shortly after sunrise on October 7. Almost 25 percent of civilian deaths on Black Sabbath occurred at the festival, leaving at least 260 dead and dozens, many of them foreigners, taken hostage.

In a video published by Hamas after the October 7 massacre, Louk was identified as a captive through her unique leg tattoos, boots, and shorts. The shorts and boots matched what she was wearing at the music festival in a picture shared on social media before the attack. In the Hamas video filmed in the Gaza Strip, her contorted body was in the back of a pickup truck face down, with her blouse stripped off. In the extended version of the video that wasn't widely distributed, Palestinians spat on her body while chanting, "God is great."

President of Israel Issac Herzog reported that her skull had been recovered and that she had been beheaded. Louk's mother, Richarda, confirmed that she was notified on Sunday that her daughter was "no longer alive."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed the Israeli report of Louk's death, stating, "Like many others, she was brutally murdered. This shows the full barbarity behind the Hamas attack - who must be held accountable. This is terror, and Israel has a right to defend itself."

In the disinformation space, two narratives are forming. First, the festival attendees were not innocent victims by virtue of attending a music festival so close to the Gaza Strip and were supportive of the genocidal policies of Israel, so they deserved to die. The second narrative is that the Israeli government is lying and has no proof she was actually beheaded.