A young woman who was held hostage in Gaza by Hamas for a harrowing 54 days is speaking out for the first time since her release.
In a sneak peek of her Channel 13 interview with journalist Lior Veroslavski, 21-year-old Israeli-French tattoo artist Mia Schem said she “went through a Holocaust” while in captivity.
She said she is sharing her experience because, “It was important to me to relay the truth about the nature of the people who live in Gaza, who they are, truly are, and what I experienced there.”
“It was important to you that the world understands what?” asked Veroslavski.
“That I went through a holocaust,” Schem replied. “Everyone over there is a terrorist.”
Schem, along with dozens of others, was snatched by the savage Hamas militants in Israel from the Supernova music festival on October 7 and found herself imprisoned in Gaza by unlikely captors.
“Suddenly I realized that I’m with a family,” she told Veroslavski in the clip, released on Thursday. “Suddenly I’m asking myself questions: ‘Why am I in some family’s home? Why are there kids here? Why is there a wife?'”
Former hostage Mia Schem:
“I went through Holocaust. Everyone there are terrorists.
Entire families are in the service of Hamas. I suddenly realized I was being held captive by a family.”
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) December 28, 2023
In another clip posted on X, Schem describes the treatment she received for her injuries.
“The floor was splattered with blood,” she said, “And I yelled in pain, ‘I lost my arm!'”
“He [Hamas] starts touching the upper part of my body,” she said. “Suddenly, someone grabbed my hair, pulled me into a car, and drove to Gaza.”
Hamas had previously released a video of their hostage being treated by a veterinarian for her wounded arm.
“I felt like an animal in a zoo,” Schem said. “There was an operation room. No anesthesia or anything. I was choking on my own tears. Then he looked at me and said: ‘Enough, or I will send you down to the tunnel!'”
Leaving hostages behind, she said, was “the hardest thing in the world.”
“They said, ‘Mia, please, don’t let them forget us,'” she said. “It’s like I’m apologizing for leaving… ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry.'”
Mia Schem a hostage of Hamas terrorists: “I felt like an animal in a zoo… I was chocking on my own tears.”
She said when she was freed, the other hostages she was forced to leave behind said “Mia, please, don’t let them forget us.”
— Azzat Alsalem (@AzzatAlsaalem) December 29, 2023
Following her release during the temporary cease-fire between Hamas and Israel, Schem, who lives in Shoham in central Israel, took to Instagram to show off her latest tattoo. “We will dance again,” it defiantly declares. Under the vow is the date of the brutal attack.
“I will never forget [10/7/2023]. The pain and the fear, the difficult sights, the friends that will not come back and the ones we must get back,” she captioned the photo. “We will still be dancing!”
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Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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