Shani Louk, a young German-Israeli tattoo artist, has quickly become one of the faces of the war against Hamas after graphic viral footage showed terrorists parading her near-naked body through the streets in the back of a pickup truck.
Louk, who is in her early 20s, hasn’t been seen or heard from since she was among the scores of people taken hostage by Hama at an Israeli music festival on Saturday.
Louk, who lives in Israel but spent part of her childhood in Portland, Ore., was initially feared to have been raped and killed — but her family have since made the stunning claim that she’s actually alive and in a hospital in Gaza.
Here’s what we know about the young woman so far:
Louk was among the revelers attending the Tribe of Nova dance rave in the Negev Desert, close to the Gaza Strip, when Hamas terrorists launched their sneak attack — killing at least 260 at the festival and leaving countless others injured.
The tattoo artist was captured on video dancing happily among fellow festivalgoers just a short time before the massacre unfolded.
Her mother, Ricarda Louk, told German news outlet Bild that she last spoke to her daughter at the festival as gunfire rang out in the background.
She added that she lost contact when the young woman took cover in bushes.
Hours after the attack, disturbing video emerged of Hamas showing off the body of an unconscious woman — who had been stripped naked — as a gruesome trophy.
The terrorists could be heard screaming “Allahu Akbar!” (“God is great!”) as they drove through the streets in the back of the flatbed truck.
As the footage quickly went viral online, Louk’s family recognized the battered young woman, whose face was obscured, due to her distinctive tattoos and dreadlocks.
“This morning my daughter, Shani Nicole Louk, a German citizen, was kidnapped with a group of tourists in southern Israel by Palestinian Hamas,” Ricarda Louk said in a recorded message.
“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. I ask you to send us any help or any news. Thank you very much.”
At the time, Louk was reported to have been raped and killed by her attackers.
Despite the harrowing viral footage showing her limp body, Louk’s mom sensationally revealed Tuesday that she had received word her daughter is actually alive.
Ricarda Louk, claimed that she’d been tipped off by an unidentified Palestinian source about her daughter’s medical status and whereabouts.
“We now have further information that Shani is alive, but has a severe head injury and is in critical condition,” the desperate mother explained in a brief recording shared by another German media outlet, Der Spiegel.
“We ask — no, we demand — that the German government act quickly,” she continued. “This is really my desperate call to the entire country of Germany to help me get my Shani back home healthy.”
A Louk family acquaintance told Der Spiegal that a family friend in the Gaza Strip believes the young woman is at the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, but that person has not been able to visit her.