A freed Israeli hostage has spoken out and revealed details of her ordeal. Mia Schem was kidnapped on October 7 during the Hamas terror attack on Israel and was released on November 30 during a week-long ceasefire. Schem was taken from the Nova music festival, where Hamas terrorists murdered more than 300 people after crossing the southern Israeli border.
The 21-year-old dual French Israeli citizen recounted her experience and said her greatest fear was being raped. She described attempting to flee from the scene of the attack in her car but was shot at, and the car set alight. As she left her vehicle, a gunman seized her. “It was a split-second decision, whether to stay put and burn to death or go with him,” she said.
Mia furthermore explained seeing burned bodies around her as the Hamas gunman transported her to his home, where she would remain for weeks. Trapped in a dark room, the terrorist watched her closely, but she said that because his wife was present, he did not rape her. Nevertheless, she received no other comfort from his wife. “You feel like you want a hug, you know, woman to woman, to break down a bit,” she said, but added that the terrorist’s wife treated her with contempt.
Schem’s experiences have left her in little doubt about her view of Palestinians. “It was important to me to relay the truth about the nature of the people who live in Gaza. Everyone over there is a terrorist,” she said.
Hamas took hundreds of Israeli hostages on October 7, with some released during a ceasefire in November. As 2023 came to a close, around 130 people remained in captivity. In the first week of 2024, Israel announced the withdrawal of hundreds of troops from the Gaza Strip as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his people to prepare for the war to continue for “many months.”
Around 22,000 Palestinians have reportedly died in conflict since October.
