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🇮🇱 Israel /Crime & Justice

Father recounts identifying murdered daughter Shani Louk after October 7 massacre

From Jerusalem Post · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Nissim Louk identified his daughter Shani Louk from a picture sent by a friend shortly after the October 7 attacks, recognizing tattoos on her leg and her vehicle entering Gaza.
  • ZAKA members found Shani's remains after noticing hair by the roadside, leading to DNA confirmation and providing the family with closure.
  • Louk expressed the nation's collective grief, highlighting the pain of empty chairs at family gatherings due to the loss of 3,000 lives since October 7.

Nissim Louk, father of Shani Louk, who was murdered after being abducted from the Nova music festival on October 7, described the agonizing process of identifying his daughter. He recounted waking up to the sound of rockets that morning and later receiving a picture from a friend around 10 a.m. that suggested his daughter might be among the victims.

At around 10:00, one of Shani's friends sent me this picture and told me it could be Shani.

— Nissim LoukDescribing the moment he began to suspect his daughter Shani Louk had been killed.

Louk recognized Shani from the image due to distinctive tattoos on her leg and confirmed her vehicle had entered Gaza. The painful but crucial confirmation of her death came when ZAKA members, who had stopped to pray, discovered hair by the roadside. A subsequent DNA test at the Institute of Forensic Medicine identified the remains as Shani's, offering a measure of closure to the family.

I recognized the small tattoos she had on her leg, and her vehicle had indeed entered Gaza and disappeared.

— Nissim LoukExplaining how he identified his daughter from a photograph.

Speaking about the broader national pain, Louk reflected on the loss of 3,000 lives since October 7. He described the profound emptiness felt during family traditions like making Kiddush on Friday nights, where an empty chair symbolizes a missing child. He noted that 3,000 families share this grief, with some missing multiple children or even entire families.

Two ZAKA members who happened to stop to pray Mincha pulled over at the side of the road, and then suddenly they saw some hair, dreadlocks like that, and a little blood.

— Nissim LoukRecounting the discovery of his daughter's remains.

Louk also touched upon a controversial encounter with Transportation Minister Miri Regev. While at Mahane Yehuda market, he confronted Regev, expressing his anger and accusing her and her colleagues of contributing to the events of October 7 and the murder of his daughter. Regev reportedly retreated into her caravan following the confrontation.

We lost 3,000 children from October 7, and the hardest thing for me is that on Friday night I make Kiddush with the family and suddenly there is an empty chair.

— Nissim LoukExpressing the collective grief and personal pain of the October 7 attacks.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Jerusalem Post in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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