An Israeli-French woman who was freed after being captured by the terrorist group Hamas spoke out about her harrowing experience during Gaza’s war with Israel.
In a short preview clip of her interview with Israel’s Channel 13 News released on Thursday, Mia Schem, 21, revealed why she chose to be interviewed.
“It was important to me to reflect the true situation regarding people living in Gaza,” she said in Hebrew. “Who they really are and share what I went through in Gaza.”
Additionally, Schem, who lives in Shoham in central Israel according to The New York Post, described what she went through as a “holocaust”
She went on:
“Everyone over there is a terrorist. Entire families are at the service of Hamas and I suddenly realize I was held captive by a family. I began asking myself questions. Why am I being held in a family’s household? Why are there children here? Why is there a woman here?”
On Oct. 7, Schem, a tattoo artist, was kidnapped by Hamas while attending a music festival in Israel and was held captive for more than 50 days, via The Post.
Shortly after the war began, a video of Schem was released by Hamas showing her being treated for an arm wound after undergoing a three-hour surgery in Gaza.
On Nov. 30, she was released due to a trade-off of hostages-prisoners between Hamas and Israel during a temporary truce.
According to CNN, over 240 Israelis were taken hostage and over 1,400 Israelis were killed during the massacre.
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On Dec. 9, Schem recalled the day she was taken by Hamas in a post on her Instagram page.
“I will never forget the 7.10.23. The pain and fear, the hard scenes, the friends who won’t come back and the ones we have to bring back. But we will still win,” she wrote in Hebrew, via Google Translate.