her name is ricarda louk. her daughter shani is one of the hostages, and at first was believed to be dead. tonight her mother believes it's possible she may still be alive. details on that ahead. >>> just a short time ago, national security council spokesman john kirby told cnn's wolf blitzer that the white house is having active conversations with israeli officials about recovering americans now being held by hamas. earlier today, as we showed you at the top of the program, president biden threw his full-throated support behind israel, pledging to, quote, make sure israel has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself and respond to this attack. cnn's kayla tausche is at the white house for us tonight. so a very strong statement of support from israel. a lot of israelis i spoke to were even surprised by the firmness of the resolve. what more can you tell us about the tone the white house is take thong war? >> anderson, the white house has taken on a forceful condemnation of terrorism and anti-s

speaking to german media, her mother ricarda louk, said she received news on sunday from israeli militaryughter's body had been found. it had been thought shani had been kidnapped by hamas gunmen while at the supernova music festival, near the gaza border, where 260 people were killed. let's cross now to the newsroom and our correspondent frankie mccamley. many people might be familiar with herface, there many people might be familiar with her face, there was video circulating on the hours after the attack. yes, many people will recognise this photo of 22—year—old shani louk, and is really german tattoo artist and social media influencer —— israeli german. she was at the festival which was stormed by hamas and left 250 people dead. as friends and relatives try to find out what had happen to loved ones who were at the festival, video emerged of what appeared to show shani louk in the back of a truck being driven through the streets by hamas. we had to blur some of these images because they are too distressing to show but people were identifying shani by the tattooed on her leg, saying that

ricarda louk was told by the israeli military that a dna sample was taken from a skull fragment and whichn assuming which proved to be that of shani. her family had been assuming that she had been taken hostage by hamas but they have just received the news this morning, that she adds to that death toll of more than 1400 people who were killed in those hamas attacks on israel on 7th october. joining me now is ehud barak. he was the prime minister of israel from 1999 to 2001. thank you so much forjoining me live on bbc news. i know that you have been paying particularfocus to what is happening, this military operation that is happening now, but also what might happen afterwards, israel have said that the intent here is to destroy hamas, what do you think will happen to gaza? look first of all we _ you think will happen to gaza? look first of all we are _ you think will happen to gaza? look first of all we are now— you think will happen to gaza? lorri. first of all we are now focused on achieving the objective, to destroy the military and governing capability of hamas in gaza strip, make sur

shani's mother, ricarda louk is with us this morning.ou very much for being here to share a bit about your daughter as we all remember her and honor her life. you, as every mother would, have been holding on to hope, any hope you had that, she had survived. but you got the news that she did not. what do you want the world to know about her? >> maybe just try to remember her as she was, as a beautiful, lovely person. she liked to travel and music and dancing and she was traveling and had many friends all over the world. and she just enjoyed laughing and experiencing life. so it was just cut too short. >> you can see in -- >> but yeah. >> you can see in the pictures of her really how full of life she is. she loved music. i mean, the fact that was a festival also to celebrate peace and look what happened is just striking. and an artist as well. is that right? >> yeah. she's very arttistic. she always painted. she designs clothes. she's a true artist doing tattoos for others. and, yeah. it just came from a celebration to a nightmare. yeah, i

. >> and that was ricarda louk, mother of shani louk, a hostage, speaking to anderson cooper.ior columnist for the jewish post and he is joining us now from jerusalem. good morning, yaakov. deeply distressing accounts we've been hearing these past two days. the human costs obviously huge. how are people processing what happened? >> i think israelis are still very much in a state of shock, laila. you walk down the streets, they're empty. there is like this eerie silence outside to all of the cities i've been to talking to it's like this paralysis that has gripped the nation and the state of israel as we wait to see what's coming, right? we think that the worse is behind us. but let's remember that israel came into this suffering huge losses. almost a thousand people dead and that number is still going up. a couple hundred taken as hostages a in gaza, but there is still going to be a battle, but it is going to come. so there is more to come and israelis are with great anxiety even on this day of monday. >> and let's talk a little bit more about that because obviously everybody i