Israel-Hamas war: Israeli army finds bodies of three hostages in Gaza, including Shani Louk

The bodies of Itzik Gelerenter (left), Shani Louk and Amit Buskila have been found by the Israeli military in Gaza after they were killed by Hamas during an attack in October. Photo / AP

The Israeli military said today its troops in Gaza found the bodies of three Israeli hostages killed by Hamas during its October 7 attack, including German-Israeli Shani Louk.

A photo of 22-year-old Louk’s twisted body in the back of a pickup truck ricocheted around the world and brought to light the scale of the militants’ attack on communities in southern Israel. The military identified the other two bodies as those of a 28-year-old woman, Amit Buskila, and a 56-year-old man, Itzhak Gelerenter.

All three were killed by Hamas while fleeing the Nova music festival, an outdoor dance party near the Gaza border, where militants killed hundreds of people, military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said at a news conference.

Shani Louk in a photo from her Instagram, which had tens of thousands of followers. The Israeli military says it has now found her body.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deaths “heartbreaking” and said: “We will return all of our hostages, both the living and the dead.”

The military said the bodies were found overnight, without elaborating, and did not give immediate details on where they were located. Israel has been operating in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah, where it says it has intelligence that hostages are being held.

Hamas-led militants killed about 1200 people, mainly civilians, and abducted about 250 others in the October 7 attack. Around half of those hostages have since been freed, most in swaps for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel during a weeklong ceasefire in November.

Israel says about 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more. Israel’s war in Gaza since the attack has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

Passersby observe the photos of hostages held in the Gaza Strip that are plastered to the walls of a plaza known as Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Israel. Photo / AP

Netanyahu has vowed to eliminate Hamas and bring all the hostages back, but he’s made little progress. He faces pressure to resign, and the US has threatened to scale back its support over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Israelis are divided into two main camps: those who want the government to put the war on hold and free the hostages, and others who think the hostages are an unfortunate price to pay for eradicating Hamas. On-and-off negotiations mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt have yielded little.