More than seven weeks after she was captured at an outdoor music festival in southern Israel during the October 7 Hamas attack, 21-year-old Mia Schem, a French-Israeli dual national, was released on Thursday. For her mother, Keren Schem, it was the end of a grueling campaign to secure her daughter’s release.
When the news she was awaiting for more than seven anguished weeks finally came, Keren Schem could hardly contain herself.
Covering her eyes as she wept tears of joy, half-laughing, half-crying, Schem ran from the living room to tell her family the good news.
Her daughter, 21-year-old Mia, a French-Israeli national who was taken hostage in Gaza on October 7, was free at last.
Mia was released Thursday afternoon along with another Israeli national, 40-year-old Amit Soussana, the Israeli military announced.
The video clip of Schem hearing of the release was posted on social media on Thursday afternoon, shortly after the Israeli military announcement.
Hours later, Mia was in her mother's arms. Footage of the reunion showed the two women weeping with joy as her brother struggles to contain himself.
"This is the most beautiful day in the world, she's an extraordinary girl. I'm not going to let go of her this time. I've been cut off from everyone for two months, but this time I'm not going to let go until all the kidnapped people come back," Mia's father, David Schem, told Israel's Channel 12.
Thursday's video clips were starkly different from the footage Hamas released in mid-October of Mia in captivity.
The Hamas vídeo showed a dazed Mia with her arm wrapped with bandages. It was the first sign of life from any of the hostages since gunmen attacked communities in southern Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,200.
Schem is seen receiving medical treatment for her arm, then facing the camera. She states her identity and says she has had surgery. It was the first proof of life since her kidnapping, broadcast on Hamas’s Telegram account.
“I can see she's suffering. I can see that she's very, very scared,” her mother, Keren Schem, told FRANCE 24 at the time, adding: “I can't imagine what she's going through.”
Officials dismissed the video as propaganda designed to make Hamas look humane.
Read moreHamas airs video of French-Israeli hostage
Please, come save us!
Mia Schem was seized at a desert rave just over the border from Gaza that became the site of what is believed to be the worst civilian massacre in Israeli history. At least 260 people were gunned down as heavily armed militants in trucks and on motorcycles barreled through the vast field on Kibbutz Re’im where thousands had gathered for a carefree night of electronic music.
Her mother, Keren Schem, recounts how she called her daughter for hours, in vain. All she knew is that Mia sent a Whatsapp message to a friend who was with her, saying, “They're shooting at us. Please, come save us!”
Mia and her friends apparently fled in a car when the first rockets started raining down on the site. The terrorists then targeted the tires to force them out of the vehicle and chased them down.
“When she sent this message, she was already injured," Keren says. "They say that she has been shot in the leg, some say in the shoulder.”
The news came through that Mia had been kidnapped but was still alive on October 14, a week after she went missing. “I was so happy, it is so pathetic,” Keren said. “I was happy to hear that my baby is [being held captive by] the worst enemy in the world. I mean, God knows what she's going through."
The young French-Israeli woman and her family will now have the time to process the experience of the past seven weeks with the support of loved ones and well-wishers.
Mia's release was welcomed in France on Thursday, with French President Emmanuel Macron expressing his "great joy" upon her release.
Macron also noted that "France is working with its partners to secure their release as soon as possible".
