Israel announced Thursday that the latest group of hostages released from Gaza on the seventh day of the ceasefire with Hamas includes 21-year-old Mia Schem—a French-Israeli woman who appeared in the first hostage video released last month.
A video shared by Israeli media showed Schem’s mom, Keren Schem, becoming emotional as she heard the news, bursting into tears of joy as she exclaimed, “Mia is coming back.”
On Oct. 7, Schem was abducted from the Supernova desert rave, where footage recorded dozens of Hamas militants flying into the festival with rifles drawn—slaughtering hundreds and capturing dozens of others.
ADVERTISEMENT
The New York Times reported that one of Schem’s final texts before being abducted read, “They are shooting at us, come save us.”
Hamas posted a video of Schem to Telegram on Oct. 16, more than a week after her abduction. The minute-long clip was the first hostage video Hamas released, and it showed Schem having her arm bandaged before she appealed to the camera for Israel to bring her home.
“They are taking care of me, giving me medicine, everything is fine,” she said in Hebrew. “I only ask that they bring me home as soon as possible to my parents, to my siblings. Get me out of here as soon as possible. Please.”
Schem was released under the terms of Israel and Hamas’ latest ceasefire deal, which has now been extended twice since their initial agreement was set to expire on Monday. Authorities renewed the ceasefire on Thursday, just hours before hostilities in Gaza were set to resume.
In addition to Schem, Israeli media reported that Hamas was set to release eight Israeli women and children on Thursday, and return the bodies of three hostages—a mother and her two children—that Hamas says were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
In a statement to The Daily Beast, Israeli prime minister’s office confirmed that Schem and the 40-year-old Amit Soussana were already on their way back to Israel.
“The Government of Israel embraces the two hostages who have just been released,” the statement said. “The Government, together with all of the security agencies, will assist them and their families.”
