The mother of Shani Louk, a 22-year-old German national believed to have been kidnapped by Hamas fighters during the militant group’s surprise attack on Israel on Saturday, said on Tuesday that her daughter is alive.

Louk, a tattoo artist, was attending the Tribe of Nova music festival in the plains of the Negev Desert near Urim, close to the Gaza Strip, on Saturday when Hamas fighters stormed the event. She’s believed to have been seized by the militants and paraded through the streets in the back of a pick-up.

On Tuesday, Louk’s family announced they had proof that Louk—who grew up in Israel—was alive. German news website Blick reported that her mother said she was in a hospital in Gaza with serious head injuries.

“We now have more information that Shani is alive,” her mother told television channel NTV, adding she received the information from unnamed Palestinian sources.

The mother added that Louk is seriously injured, and asked the German government for help and quick action.

  • P03 Locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    While I’m glad some good news came out of this, can we maybe focus on the 1,600 other people that are missing or died during the Hamas attack? News media has this obsession over reporting on young white females in peril.

    • Zoldyck@lemmy.world
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      With almost non-stop negative news the past few days, some positive news seems very welcome thb.

      • deweydecibel@lemmy.world
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        She’s in a hospital with severe head injuries. And as someone else pointed out, it’s a Gaza hospital, there’s no place in Gaza that’s safe right now from Israel’s response.

        This isn’t positive news, it’s slightly less bad news.

    • CALIGVLA@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      Reporting on brown, middle-eastern nationals? In a war in their own country? What is this woke bullshit?!

  • Redex@lemmy.world
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    Damn that really is surprising. I’m glad that she’s alive. Hope that she can return home safe.

    • Travalaaaaaaanche!@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Was it not her in the truck then? I thought the family had positively identified her by her tattoos.Though, you really can’t see much of them in the video that went viral.

      • VentraSqwal@links.dartboard.social
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        Either she was just unconscious or they are lying. But it seems pointless for the latter since they’d find out eventually, unless they plan on blaming her death on one of the bombs that are being dropped in Gaza. I guess we’ll see if the family gets her back.

        • jcit878@lemmy.world
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          But it seems pointless for the latter since they’d find out eventually,

          well its been shown pretty clearly these baby decapitators arent exactly the sharpest tools in the shed. They were on an adrenaline high after their little murder spree and felt they were on top of the world. The next day or so and reality set in and maybe they realised they not only signed their own death warrants, but that of thousands of their ‘people’ and set their cause back decades. Now they are scambling like the cowards they are to try and ‘fix’ what is unfixable

  • laylawashere44@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 year ago

    So she is in a Gazan Hospital. The same Gazan hospitals that Israeli bombing has now overwhelmed and whose blockade is preventing humanitarian aid from entering. Hey maybe the UN was right in calling out that a total siege is illegal.

    • Khalic@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I wanted to say: not even israel would be stupid enough to let them die of thirst… but how much crazy shit happened these last 10 years? I don’t know, I hope not…

      • gmtom@lemmy.world
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        Nah Israel is exactly that crazy. They know they have the unconditional support of the west. They had the palestinians in an open air concentration camp for decades now and have committed countless war crimes against them and no one gave a shit. At this point they could unironically put arm bands on them and start shipping them off to gas chambers and the western sycophants would sing their praises still.

    • qdJzXuisAndVQb2@lemm.ee
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      The blockade is enforced by Israel and Egypt together, they share the blame for this war crime.

      • laylawashere44@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        Nope. The raffa crossing into Egypt was open yesterday. In fact the IDF instructed people to leave via that crossing, then they bombed it today.

  • ComputerSagtNein@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Hope she’s really alive, but her life will never be the same after these horrible events :(

    • Khalic@kbin.social
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      If you care about victims of rape, don’t spread that bs about “life being over” and other disheartening quotes that make them feel like a used up rag. If she survives, it’s cause for celebration, period.

      • BreakDecks@lemmy.ml
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        Nobody said anything about her being raped, and never said anything about her life being over. She was present during a mass-killing, was brutalized in the process, and she is now being held captive by a terrorist group. Even if Hamas wasn’t raping their victims (which they absolutely are), living through this will, without a doubt, change the trajectory of a person’s life.

        • KredeSeraf@lemmy.world
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          It blows my mind that there are people who think mental recovery from things like this is a simple, easy process. Imagine all the horrors of war without any of the training and purpose of cause that allow you to cope just a bit and most still suffer from severe PTSD from that. She just got more trauma crammed into one week than many will see in their entire lives, with more to come and maybe more previously we don’t know about. Her life isn’t over, and it could eventually be fine. But it will be different.

      • LilB0kChoy@lemm.ee
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        I agree with the point you’re making.

        her life will never be the same after these horrible events

        I don’t think this is the equivalent of saying life is over. It’s saying that if Shani Louk is alive it’s good news while also acknowledging that there has still been significant grievous harm caused to this young woman.

        Her not being dead is not equivalent to no harm/no foul. Hamas still has responsibility for significant harm caused to Shani Louk.

        • Khalic@kbin.social
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          It wasn’t trying to diminish the atrocity, sorry if it came out that way. This is humanity at its lowest. I’m just happy she might still survive.

          I just keep the aggressor out of my head when thinking about the victim, they don’t deserve the attention.

          I guess I’m a little triggered by this specific theme, thx for the feedback.

          • LilB0kChoy@lemm.ee
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            It wasn’t trying to diminish the atrocity, sorry if it came out that way.

            You did not, not to me at least.

            I just keep the aggressor out of my head when thinking about the victim, they don’t deserve the attention.

            That’s a great way to approach it. I was only speculating on the original commenter’s intent because that’s how I think about it too. I’ve had trauma in my past and it’s shaped who I am today; I reflect on it often. When I see stories of trauma for others I always have the thought about how their trauma is now going to shape their life going forward.

            I guess I’m a little triggered by this specific theme

            With good cause for sure! Harm and trauma don’t take away your agency or humanity, that happens by how others react to you after.

      • Socsa@sh.itjust.works
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        I’m more worried about the fact that she is very likely paralyzed to some degree and appears to have a hole in her head.

      • Daisyifyoudo@lemmy.world
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        Did you actually read what you were responding to, or just have kneejerk reaction?

        You’re not wrong, but the person you are responding to didn’t say any of those things.

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        Suggesting their life will never be the same is not equivalent to suggesting they are worthless. They didn’t say “life being over”

        Victims of rape will never be the same, as they will have a very traumatic event in their history. That event is of significance, not devaluation.

      • Obsession@sh.itjust.works
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        You’re the only one interpreting it like that.

        Some trauma stays with you for life. No one’s calling her a “used up rag,” the reality is that she may continue to suffer from what happened for the rest of her life.

      • Squeak@lemmy.world
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        What about ‘serious head injuries’? They can be pretty life changing and can end up in ‘life being over’ compared to normal…

        • Khalic@kbin.social
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          There are many possibilities like this you’re right, she might be brain dead, etc. I was using a broad definition of “alive”, having autonomic functions and a fair amount of cognitive and physical fitness.

        • hassanmckusick@lemmy.discothe.quest
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          This was the girl everyone was saying was raped and murdered. No reputable news publication has confirmed that she was raped and she is now confirmed alive.

          So slow the fuck up.

          • Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.world
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            She’s not the only one that was there. There were other people there that were murdered and other people there that were raped. Just because one was spared from that fate doesn’t mean it didn’t happen to others.

            • hassanmckusick@lemmy.discothe.quest
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              Again no reputable news publication has reported rape. It’s is a very common racist dog whistle to accuse Muslims of rape so I’m asking you not to until you have confirmed evidence.

              It is very possible there were rapes committed but it’s disgusting to lie about it to justify stealing Palestinian land and killing Palestinian people.

              Edit: wild, 40 downvotes and NOT A SINGLE SOURCE.

  • rullstolsbunden@lemmy.world
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    This is a big doubt. “Unnamed Palestinian sources” = Hamas propagandism.

    We have all seen the video where Hamas proudly showcases her mangled lifeless body.

    Wishful thinking from that poor mom who is being used to turn the narrative for Hamas when they realized Shani Louk was a german citizen.

    • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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      I don’t know what would be worse. If they did that grotesque parade with her corpse, or with her alive but in critical condition.

      God. This is so unbelievably fucked up. I think I’d call it unrealistic, gratuitous violence if it happened in a fictional story.

      I really have no other words. I had a history teacher who said that there was nothing more dangerous than a zealot. He was all too right.

      • Hackerman_uwu@lemmy.world
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        You are the very first person that I have seen to even vaguely allude to the real villain in this centuries old series of tragedies: organised religion.

        • lud@lemm.ee
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          What? That’s all everyone is talking about even before.

      • hassanmckusick@lemmy.discothe.quest
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        I don’t know what would be worse. If they did that grotesque parade with her corpse, or with her alive but in critical condition.

        I’m curious how an unconscious girl ended up in the hospital after being “paraded around in critical condition”. Any chance that was just the worlds most beat down ambulance?

      • Redex@lemmy.world
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        Fyi - the EU isn’t stopping aid for Palestine, it was a comment made by an official that cannot unilaterally decide on this and other EU states are against it.

  • Kalash@feddit.ch
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    German news website Blick

    It’s a Swiss news website … blick.ch

    edit: they fixed it

    Swiss German-language news website Blick

  • Roboticide@lemmy.world
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    I feel like if Hamas knows what’s good for them, they’ll return any foreign nationals they have ASAP.

    Beef with Israel is one thing, but “accidentally” kidnapping people from foreign countries you ostensibly want sympathy for is a bad move.

    • bdonvr@thelemmy.club
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      The thing is Israel has a very high rate of dual-nationals. A significant percentage of Israeli settlers are second or even first generation. So they either had a previous citizenship or are eligible for their parent’s.

    • gmtom@lemmy.world
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      Probably not a good idea. Israel has 0 problem bombing palestinians indiscriminately but they might think twice about killing their foreign hostages.

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      Here’s the thing; If Hama’s - an Israeli construction - does not kill foreigners, than how will the powers behind them be able to drag the rest of the world into the conflict? The aim is wwIII. They need to involve all nations. After Israel cracks down on Palestine this will draw in Iran and the Arab nations. The conflict will erupt in other countries.

      • Nastybutler@lemmy.world
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        I think we have a while before WW111 breaks out. Considering we haven’t even gotten to WW3 yet.

  • bdonvr@thelemmy.club
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    in a hospital in Gaza

    Somebody get her somewhere safe before Israel destroys that hospital

  • zephyreks@lemmy.ml
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    CNN was showing video coverage of the event where armed men (festival security? IDF?) were leading festivalgoers away at the start of the Hamas attack. There also appeared to be an armoured vehicle in the background.

    I can’t find the long form of the video that was shown, but the short form does show a vehicle with the Merkava’s characteristic chain and ball design on the turret in the background. It’s on CNN’s YouTube page and I’ll send it to people by request, but it’s rather graphic so I’d rather not link it.

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      Am I missing something, or is it not possible to criticize the media’s obsession with attractive white girls without calling a person in a hospital after being beaten and probably gang raped stupid for no reason? You fucking piece of shit. See how I had a reason there?

    • BreakDecks@lemmy.ml
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      Because she’s one of the few foreign nationals identified as a victim. Because what we have seen of how she was brutalized is being used as an example of what Hamas is doing to their victims. Because she’s a human being whose rights are being violated to an extreme degree.

      All you know about her is related to the crimes against her, and you’re already willing to publicly insult her? What the fuck did she do wrong?

    • Saganastic@kbin.social
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      Things that are out of the ordinary make it into the headlines. This is a German citizen captured by Hamas during their invasion of Israel. Very out of the ordinary. No need to bring race into it.

    • circuscritic@lemmy.ca
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      You’re missing a lot more than something. My guess is that it’s a pretty long list which includes, but not limited to: compassion, integrity, and a lot less functioning brain cells then even the average idiot.

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    Wait. So everyone saying she was raped and paraded around naked and dead were lying? I can’t believe Liberal media anymore.

    • circuscritic@lemmy.ca
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      No one was just saying that, they were watching it. Watching her stripped down and contorted body being driven around as a trophy while Hamas and their followers spit on her in the back of that truck.

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          Impressive. You know actually less than nothing about the situation, and yet still felt the need to chime in with your negative two cents.

          Yes, her family first identified her through the leg tattoos that were showing on her stripped and abused body that was being driven around, nearly naked, by Hamas, as well as her dreadlocks, and the fact that she was at that festival.

          I normally never recommend people search out and watch those horrific videos, but maybe you should take a few minutes and do that. If you don’t delete your comment out of shame afterwards, I’ll assume that you’re either a sociopath who got off watching it, or to cowardly to actually look at you were so quick to publically cast doubt on.

    • Daisyifyoudo@lemmy.world
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      Over 1600 people were attacked, some murdered and this was your takeaway. Too many times over the past several months do I read something incredibly stupid, look at the username, and it’s you. Either you have no shame or youre retarded.