The harrowing search for a missing Israeli tattoo artist ended tragically when the Israeli Defense Forces discovered the remains of Shani Louk, with her family sent an envelope containing personal mementoes including a blackened chain necklace and some other pieces of jewellery.
Shani Louk was among the 250 Israelis captured by Hamas on October 7 during a brutal attack in southern Israel that left about 1,200 dead. In a desperate bid to locate his daughter, Nissim Louk, Shani's father, leveraged connections with friends in Germany as Tel Aviv intensified its attacks on Gaza.
"We didn't know if she was dead or alive, we were trying to figure out how to get the information," Nissim recounted. "That old man was travelling from one hospital to another trying to get a word."
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Three weeks after her disappearance, the IDF officially declared the young woman, aged 22, dead. Last week, in a special operation, Shani's body was retrieved and returned to Israel.
Nissim learned his daughter was among the 360 attendees killed at the Nova Rave festival when militants descended on the event through a picture shared by her ex-boyfriend. In a chilling turn of events, Nissim received a horrifying photo from his daughter's ex-boyfriend showing Shani's lifeless body dressed in party attire and lying in the back of a pick-up truck, surrounded by armed men.
Although her body showed no signs of physical trauma, giving Nissim a fleeting hope she might have survived, this hope was crushed when IDF officials confirmed her identity through a bone found at the scene. Adding to the family's grief, they were sent an envelope containing Shani's charred personal items: her chain necklace, earrings, and nose piercing.
Shani's body was discovered amidst the conflict in Jabalia, northern Gaza, not far from where Nissim was stationed. "I was near Gaza, maybe two kilometres away from where my daughter was," he recounted.
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The area had been notorious for reports of torture and rape, leaving Nissim relieved that Shani was spared such horrors. According to Israeli emergency services, Shani had called in to report injured people and a major car accident, unaware of the Hamas incursion as she attempted to flee the now-notorious music festival.
Tragically, as she turned her car around to escape, she was spotted by another group of militants and shot dead. "I'm sure she felt terror for 20 seconds and a few seconds earlier she thought it was simply a car accident," Nissim reflected. "It's important for me to know she did not suffer."
Shani, the youngest of Nissim's daughters, was a globetrotter who spent most of last year exploring Europe and attending music festivals. She decided to return home to Tel Aviv after hearing the first air raid sirens, she told Nissim, but she never made it.