Schem, a French-Israeli tattoo artist from Shoham in central Israel, was captured by Hamas fighters on October 7 at the Nova festival, where 40 other festival-goers were also taken hostage that day and 364 people were murdered. Schem quickly became one of the faces of many Israeli hostages after Hamas released a video showing her recovering after surgery for a gunshot wound to her hand.
The young woman was ultimately held hostage for 54 days before being released on November 30 as part of a swap operation between Hamas and Israel, which was part of a temporary ceasefire. Before her release, she was forced to make a positive statement about her treatment in captivity in a video. “The people were very good and friendly to me,” he said. “I am being cared for, I am getting medicine and good food, everything is fine.”
(Read more below the photos.)
Mia Schem (second from right) upon her release by Hamas. — © EYEPRESS via Reuters Connect
Mia Schem (right) upon her release by Hamas. — © EYEPRESS via Reuters Connect
“Everyone there is a terrorist”
But in an interview with Israel’s Channel 13, Schem now sounds very different – without the threat of Hamas behind the camera. “I want to make clear the real situation in the Gaza Strip, who those people really are, and what I experienced there,” he said. “I went through a holocaust. Everyone there is a terrorist.”
For example, Schem says that she was held with an ordinary Palestinian family with children. “When I realized I was with a family, I started asking myself questions. Why is that? Why are there children here? Why is there a woman here?” The full interview with Schem will be broadcast on Thursday evening.
(Read more below the photo.)
Mia Schem (center) in the arms of her mother and brother after her release by Hamas. — © via REUTERS
“We will overcome”
According to her family, the medical treatment provided by Hamas was also substandard. “She was thin and weak after her release. She was operated on by a veterinarian. And she received no physiotherapy afterwards.”
(Read more below the photo.)
Mia Schem in hospital after her release by Hamas. — © via REUTERS
After her release, Schem had a tattoo on her arm with the inscription ‘We will dance again’. 7.10.23′, a reference to the festival where she was captured. “I will never forget that day,” she says. “The pain and the fear, the horrific scenes, the friends who will never return, and the friends we have yet to bring back. But we will overcome.”
(Read more below the photo.)
© Instagram Mia Schem
110 hostages released
Hamas took a total of about 240 people hostage in the surprise attack on October 7, which also killed about 1,200 people. 110 hostages – all women and children – have now been released, following an agreement between Hamas and Israel. It is clear that a number of the 130 remaining hostages have now died, according to Hamas as a result of the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip.
They included Judith Weinstein Haggai, a 70-year-old Israeli-American mother of four and grandmother of seven grandchildren, who was believed to be the oldest woman taken to the Gaza Strip as a hostage. Kibbutz Nir Oz confirmed this on Thursday. “Judith was injured in the October 7 massacre, and it is now acceptable to publish that she was killed on Saturday,” it said.
This contains inserted content from a social media network that wants to write or read cookies. You have not given permission for this.
Click here to adjust your preferences
Death toll in Gaza Strip rises
According to Hamas, 21,320 deaths have now occurred in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israeli military operations. There were also a total of almost 56,000 injuries. Those figures cannot be independently verified, but the United Nations and other observers note that Hamas’s figures have generally proven credible in the past.
Mia Schem’s mother begged Hamas for her daughter’s release. — © REUTERS
Mia Schem (center) in the arms of her mother and brother after her release by Hamas — © via REUTERS
Mia Schem (left) in the arms of her mother and brother after her release by Hamas — © via REUTERS