Every hostage released by Hamas is a reason to celebrate. Some of the hostages taken by Hamas during the massacres that occurred on October 7 are known to us through press reports. One such hostage is Mia Schem.
Mia Schem was taken hostage at the Supernova Music Festival. She is a 21-year-old Israeli woman with dual French citizenship. Mia was seen in the first hostage video released by Hamas. She was seen having her hand bandaged after she suffered a serious injury.
“Get me out of here as soon as possible. Please,” said Mia Shem from Shoham, Israel, in the video, per the Jerusalem Post. “I was seriously injured in my hand. I underwent surgery on my hand at the hospital [in Gaza] for three hours.”
In the roughly minute-long clip shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, Shem is initially seen getting her arm, which appears to have a row of stitches on it, bandaged, before she directly addresses the camera.
Her mother and brother welcomed her back when she was released today.
After 54 days Mia Shem, 21, reunited with mom, brother. Her arm in cast, as we have seen her in a first video almost 8 weeks ago after she was operated in captivity. #Hamas_is_ISIS pic.twitter.com/gwpfxQaXs5
— Tal Schneider טל שניידר تال شنايدر (@talschneider) November 30, 2023
French President Macron posted his happiness that Mia has been released.
Mia Schem est libre.
C’est une grande joie que je partage avec sa famille et tous les Français.
J’exprime aussi ma solidarité avec tous ceux qui restent otages du Hamas. La France agit avec ses partenaires pour obtenir leur libération dès que possible.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) November 30, 2023
“Mia Schem is free. It is a great joy that I share with her family and all French people. I also express my solidarity with all those who remain hostages of Hamas. France is working with its partners to obtain their release as soon as possible.”
After her mother watched the first video, she noted that Mia looked like she was in pain. Macron called for her release after he watched the video.
Likely reading from a message penned by her captors, Schem says she was being taken care of in Gaza but pleaded for Israeli officials to secure her freedom as quickly as possible.
“She looks very terrified,” her mother told reporters about the clip, which she learned about on live television. “She looks like she is in big pain.”
In the wake of the video footage, Macron called for Schem’s “immediate and unconditional release.”
“To have taken hostages, both civilian and military, of all nationalities and to use blackmail at this time is absolutely odious and unacceptable,” he said last month.
Mia is one of two Israeli women released today. Amit Soussana, a 40-year-old Israeli woman was also released. Eight more hostages were set to be released Thursday. More than 190 people are reported to have been kidnapped from the music festival.
When hostages are released to the custody of the Red Cross, Gazans make the transfer as scary as possible for the hostages. They surround the hostages as they walk to the vehicle, bang on the vehicle as the hostages get in the vehicle, and scream at them. The same happened to Mia and Amit today.
תיעוד: מייה שם ועמית סוסנה הועברו לידי הצלב האדום@gal_sade pic.twitter.com/D74ioRiMeW
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) November 30, 2023
We can only imagine the horrors the hostages have endured.
Mia Schem, 21, who was shot by Hamas and severely injured then dragged violently into Gaza, was forced to create propaganda videos, is finally on her way home after 54 days in Hamas’ barbaric captivity 💔 pic.twitter.com/eU88xkPbaN
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) November 30, 2023
Mia’s boyfriend was not released today.
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