Former Hamas hostage Mia Shem says she experienced the ‘Holocaust’ in captivity

Israeli Mia Schem said in her first interview since her release that she experienced a “holocaust” while held hostage by Hamas.

Mia, 21, was one of the teenagers kidnapped on October 7 during a party at the Supernova music festival.

She spent 54 days in Gaza at the hands of her captors. During that time, she underwent surgery on an injured hand, which her family said was performed by a veterinarian.

I remind you of the operation for Israel N12 NewsMia said she was given “no anesthesia, nothing” and was “suffocated”. [her] own tears’.

She told the interviewer that the surgeon threatened to send her through a tunnel.

The tattoo artist, who also holds French citizenship, became one of the most prominent faces of the Gaza hostage crisis following the Hamas attacks that killed around 1,200 people.

She was the first hostage to appear in a video released by the group, a 78-second clip showing her receiving medical attention on her arm and asking to be returned home.

Mia was reunited with her mother Keren and brother Eli on November 30 after her release.

Her aunt Vivian Hadar told the media shortly afterwards: “A vet operated on her arm.”

In another interview with Israel’s Channel 13, Mia said: “Everyone there.” [in Gaza] were terrorists.’

She added: “Whole families are in the service of Hamas – I suddenly realized that I was being held captive by a family.

“I started asking myself questions: Why am I being kept in a family home? Why are there children here, why is there a woman here?’

Mia was one of 120 hostages released last month during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, a group largely made up of women and people with dual nationalities.

The head of psychiatry at a Tel Aviv hospital where some of the freed were taken said these were the worst cases of trauma she had seen in her career.

Renena Eitan told the Guardian: “I thought I had treated the most serious cases there are, but now that these patients have come out of captivity, we couldn’t believe this level of cruelty.”

“Most of the returned hostages suffered severe physical and mental abuse… We know they still have a long way to go.”

Earlier this week, around 86 people were killed when an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) airstrike hit a refugee camp in central Gaza.

The country’s military said it “deplores the damage” caused by the attack on Hamas militants.

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