TEL AVIV — Israeli authorities announced Friday that their forces in Gaza have recovered the bodies of three revelers killed by Hamas attackers near the Supernova, or Nova, music festival on Oct. 7.
According to Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari, the three – Shani Louk, 23, Amit Buskila, 28, and Itzik Gelenter, 57 – fled the festival, but were killed after Hamas terrorists chased them. Their bodies were later taken to Gaza.
“No parent would want to hear this news,” Shani Louk’s father, Nissim Louk, said in a statement. “We knew she was murdered. Today the army officers came to our house and told us the news. They showed us photos of Shani, who still looked beautiful.”
“Your happy life was cut short. She was a special person,” she added.
The three bodies were found together in a tunnel during a military operation in Gaza on Thursday, Hagari said.
A photo of Shani’s mutilated body lying in the back of a pickup truck shortly after the attack shocked many people in Israel and around the world, and drove home the brutality of the Hamas attack. Weeks later, a part of her body was found and she was pronounced dead.
Hagari did not specify where in Gaza the bodies were found, but said forces used information gathered during the interrogation of captured Hamas fighters to locate the hostages.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “heartbroken by the great loss.”
“We will return all our hostages,” said Netanyahu, who has been under intense pressure from hostage families desperate for their loved ones to return. More than 130 of the 250 captured during Hamas’ multi-pronged surprise terrorist attack remain missing and presumed to be in Gaza, although it is unknown how many are still alive.
“I congratulate our brave forces who, with determined action, returned boys and girls to their border,” Netanyahu added.
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