THE family of German woman Shani Louk, who was kidnapped and brutalised by Hamas militants, are holding out hope that she could be alive after her credit card was used in Gaza.
More than 1,100 people in Israel and Gaza have been killed since the Palestinian militant group stormed across the border on Saturday and massacred hundreds at a music festival.
Shani’s whereabouts are still unknown, but she is thought to be within Gazashanukkk/Instagram
Mum Ricarda has issued a desperate plea for information
TwitterHer lifeless body was paraded around in Gaza in videos shown online[/caption]
TwitterThe road to the festival is littered with abandoned cars and bodies[/caption]
Tattoo artist Shani, 30, went missing after attending a the Tribe of Nova music festival in southern Israel – where 260 bodies were discovered.
The festival was one of the first sites attacked when the Palestinian militant group Hamas stormed across the border on Saturday with paragliders and armed soldiers.
Horrifying footage from the desert musical festival showed militants jeering and spitting on Shani’s body.
Shani’s mother, Ricarda Louk, saw the harrowing footage of her daughter in the back of a Hamas truck but hasn’t heard any news since.
Ricarda told CNN: “The video looks very bad but I still have hope. I hope she’s still alive somewhere.
“We don’t have anything else to hope for. We’re trying to believe.”
After taking Shani’s body into the Gaza strip, Ricarda said the audacious Hamas militants even tried to use Shani’s credit card.
Mum Ricarda confirmed: “We saw that somebody tried to use a credit card in the Gaza strip multiple times.”
When violence erupted in Israel on Saturday, Ricarda had desperately tried to make sure her daughter was safe.
She said: “I started calling her to see where she is, if she was near a secure location, and she said she was in a festival in the south and was panicking a little bit.”
Ricarda’s worries were increased after seeing videos of armed militants shooting anyone trying to reach their vehicles – which Shani told her mum she was doing.
No updates have been given on Shani’s whereabouts, but cousin Tom Weintraub Louk said the family hasn’t given up.
He spoke to The Washington Post about his cousin: “We have some kind of hope. Hamas is responsible for her and the others.
“We recognised her by the tattoos, and she has long dreadlocks.”
Hundreds of other attendees of the music festival remain missing, with many like Shani thought to have been kidnapped and taken into Gaza.
Shocking footage showed terrified ravers fleeing the site of the music festival– with many still missing, including Brit Jake Marlowe.
Another Brit, photographer Dan Darlington, who was visiting from his home in Berlin, is also missing, according to his dad David.
He was pictured laughing with his German girlfriend Carolin Bohl – who is also missing – shortly before they vanished during the festival massacre.
A witness, Gili Yoskovich, described people “dying all around” as she stayed silent in a desperate attempt to escape the terror group’s hail of bullets.
It comes as Israeli troops are expected to invade Gaza within the next 48 hours after Hamas terrorists unleashed a terror bloodbath dubbed “Israel’s 9/11”.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to reduce Gaza to “rubble” as the country begins to fight back against Hamas.
He brought in special forces as his troops continued pounding the Gaza Strip overnight – reportedly hitting more than 500 targets belonging to Hamas terrorists.
Those at the festival were filmed screaming and runningReuters
shanukkk/InstagramThe tattoo artist was attending a music festival when Hamas launched the attack[/caption]
Festival-goers were filmed dancing, unaware that Hamas was paragliding inTikTok
AFPThe region has been plunged into an all out war[/caption]
Shani was identified by her shin tattoosshanukkk/Instagram
Shani is thought to be in the Gaza strip, which has been reduced to rubbleRex
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