“Hamas victim Shani Louk’s grief-stricken mother reveals how an award given for a photo of tattoo artist’s naked and mutilated body being paraded by terrorists forces her family to relive her murder on October 7,” by Dan Grennan, Daily Mail, April 7, 2024
The grief-stricken mother of Hamas victim Shani Louk has revealed how an award given for a photo of her daughter’s half-naked and mutilated body forced her family to relive the trauma of her murder.
The 22-year-old German-Israeli was one of 364 people killed at the SuperNova Festival, which she was attending with her boyfriend, in the October 7 attacks.
The picture shows four Hamas militants celebrating as they brandish a rocket launcher and guns while sitting on top of Shani Louk’s body, which is lying face down in the back of a pickup truck.
The photo, taken by freelance photographer Ali Mahmud, was the centerpiece of the submission that won photo agency AP the Team Picture Story of the Year category from the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism.
Now Shani’s mother, Ricarda, has revealed the award has forced her family to relive the trauma of her daughter’s murder.
She told the Telegraph: ‘[It is] ‘traumatic for all of us. Just try to imagine seeing your beloved girl lying half-naked and lifeless on the truck with those savages around her.’
The tattoo artist was still wearing the clubbing outfit she had on while attending the music festival in the picture.
Separate footage recorded in the hours after the photo was taken shows her body being paraded around the streets of Gaza, with some passers-by spitting on her.
‘Seeing those pictures again because of the contest makes our family relive the pain,’ said Ms Louk.
The 53-year-old added that her family were not told in advance that the photo was being put forward for an award, which she said ‘made me angry’.
The fact they celebrated this photo with a prize makes us hurt even more because really, it’s like celebrating that they were killed.
I mean, the whole massacre is celebrated. It’s not by chance that they chose this picture so it hurts us even more….