The 22-year-old Israeli woman, who was killed by Hamas and paraded half-naked in Gaza on October 7, has been buried in Israel – days after her remains were recovered in the Palestinian territories.
Shani Luke was buried in a ceremony held in the Israeli town of Srigim on Sunday, and hundreds of mourners came out to pay their respects. According to the Telegraph.
Luke was one of more than 360 civilians killed when Hamas terrorists stormed the Nova music festival in southern Israel and began randomly shooting or holding attendees hostage.
“I want your forgiveness. We didn’t understand how dangerous it was for you to go there,” her father, Nissim Lok, said during the funeral.
“As a father, I failed to protect you. Forgive me.”
In the chaos that followed the October 7 massacre – during which more than 1,200 people were killed in Israel – a photo emerged of Luke’s body stripped of clothes and lying face down in a pickup truck full of Hamas terrorists.
The brutality of the image immediately became a symbol of the horror of that day.
“By your death, you have become a symbol,” her father said. “You were a light to the darkness of this horror,” he said.
Luke’s body was returned to her family on Friday after it was recovered in Rafah by Israeli army forces who were conducting operations against Hamas terrorists.
“I couldn’t believe we would ever see her body,” her mother, Ricarda Luke, said at the funeral. She described the return of her remains as a “little gift,” adding that her daughter lived an “intense life with all her heart.” “
Luke, who also took German citizenship, was a tattoo artist with a quick sense of humor and remarkable creativity, her family said.
Her brother Amit, who helped carry her coffin at the ceremony, said: “I’m proud to have been able to have your energy and common sense.”
“I was always jealous of how much energy you had. You always gave me strength. I will never stop missing you, sitting with you, talking to you, celebrating with you,” he said.
“There is not a day that I do not see the sun and I see you, and there is not a day that I do not hear the birds chirping and think about you.”
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