October 7 · Personal story
Shani Louk
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Nova music festival near Re’im
Current outcome
Returned for burial · May 17, 2024
Her body was recovered in Gaza and returned to Israel on May 17, 2024.
01
Life before
Shani was the second of four children. She was born in Moshav Aderet; when she was two, her family moved to nearby Srigim, then later to Portland, where she attended a Jewish kindergarten. Her parents described a cheerful child who invented games with her siblings, loved nature and hiking, and was devoted to her family. Her artistic streak showed early: she drew, taught herself to sew, and designed her own clothes. At school she moved toward art and writing, then studied at Lifta, a high school combining academic and arts studies. She also styled her brother Amit’s hair and made dreadlocks for people who asked. At eighteen, Shani chose tattooing, moved to Tel Aviv, studied graphic design, and opened her own studio. She developed original designs and was known for deciding what image suited each client. Her family said she tried to live fully and make the most of each day.
02
October 7
On October 6, Shani went with her partner, Orion Hernández, to the Nova music festival near Re’im; they joined thousands of people gathered there. When the attack began the next morning, she sent updates to her mother while looking for somewhere to hide. Shani, Orion and their friend Keshet Casarotti got into a car and tried to escape. Near Mefalsim Junction, armed attackers stopped them and shot Shani and Orion; their bodies were taken to Gaza. Keshet got out of the car and reached another vehicle, but was later killed on the road. Shani was killed during the attack on October 7, 2023.
03
Captivity
After a video of Shani in Gaza circulated, her family did not know whether she was alive. Her mother later said someone who had searched hospitals told them Shani might be seriously injured in a Hamas hospital. For three weeks, the family hoped that report was true. Then they learned that a piece of Shani’s skull had been found in Israel; her mother said it became clear Shani could not have survived. Shani had been killed on October 7.
04
Return
In May 2024, Israeli forces recovered Shani’s body in Gaza and returned it to Israel on May 17. Two days later, her family and community buried her in Srigim.
05
Aftermath
Shani’s father remembered her words: “When I dance, I pray.” Her mother gathered the drawings left in Shani’s Tel Aviv apartment, and the family later brought those works to an exhibition at the Nahum Gutman Museum in Tel Aviv.