German-Israeli hostage confirmed dead, with dozens still missing | DW News

The military escalation in Gaza has come as pressure grows on the government to secure the release of the hostages captured by Hamas. Among them, Shani Louk, who has been confirmed dead by Israel's foreign ministry. She was among those kidnapped at a music festival on October 7, when Hamas militants stormed across into Israeli territory. Shani Louk was last seen in a video, where she appeared to be unconscious while being paraded through the streets of Gaza in a pickup truck. Hamas militants massacred around a tenth of the population of one Kibbutz in southern Israel. Those who remained have been evacuated to a resort on the Dead Sea. There, around a thousand survivors try to find ways of dealing with their trauma, and in many cases the loss of their loved ones, as DW's Rebecca Ritters reports from Ein Bokek. One of the families torn apart by Hamas' attack on Kibbutz Be'eri is the family of Shaked Haran. Shaked's family home in Be'eri was found burned to the ground, and the whole family was missing. She says 11 members of her family were kidnapped at gunpoint by Hamas, including her parents, sister, brother-in-law and their three young children, two aunts and an elderly uncle. Three of her relatives and her uncle's caretaker have since been found dead, and Shaked believes the rest of the family are being held hostage in Gaza.

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