The young Franco-Israeli woman, kidnapped by Hamas and released on November 30 as part of a temporary ceasefire, gave a new interview to Israeli television.
It’s almost a month since she found her family. Mia Schem, former Franco-Israeli Hamas hostage, once again spoke to Israeli television about her detention in Gaza. In an interview with Channel 12, the 21-year-old recounts her kidnapping by Hamas men on October 7.
“I had a feeling of distress, like I knew something was going to happen, I couldn’t have fun (during the music festival),” she says.
Alongside Elya Toledano, another hostage found dead two weeks ago, she tries to escape the Hamas forces who manage to immobilize their vehicle.
“A member shot me in the arm from very, very close range, I shouted ‘I don’t have any more arms’, I was sure I didn’t have any more arms,” she continues, “I I thought I was going to die.”
Operated during her captivity in summary conditions, Mia Schem says she did not see the light of day until her release: “they told me ‘put on the hijab, hide, dress like an Arab woman so you don’t not be recognized. 54 days of detention during which she said she was in a small room, constantly with a terrorist. She even says she was afraid of being raped: “I’m afraid something will happen, that they will touch me.”
“I choked on my sobs”
“Some days I had nothing to eat, children would come and make fun of me. Once a child came in with a bag of candy, he opens the bag and leaves. It was so mean, they look at you like an animal,” she describes again.
Mia Schem also says she believed for a moment that one of her torturers was going to shoot her “in the head” after Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip.
“There was one time when I choked on my sobs, he looked at me and said in Arabic ‘that’s enough, stop crying’ […] I asked him how long it was going to last and that made him laugh,” continues the ex-hostage, who says he thought a lot about his mother.