Miya Schem, 21, said she had surgery for an arm injury
New Delhi:
Hamas has released a video showing an Israeli woman being taken hostage during the October 7 attacks that killed over 1,300 people and sparked war in Gaza. About 200 people were reportedly taken hostage in the attacks.
Yesterday, Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, released a video of a woman who identified herself as 21-year-old Miya Shem. In the video you can see the woman’s arm wrapped in bandages.
In the video, she said she was from Sderot, a small Israeli town near the Gaza border. On the day of the attacks, she was attending the Supernova Sukkot music festival at Kibbutz Re’im when Hamas militants attacked the gathering. At least 260 people were killed at the music festival and others, including Miya, were taken hostage.
The video, just over a minute long, shows a doctor treating Miya’s injury. The Israeli says she underwent a three-hour operation for her injury.
“They take care of me, they treat me, they give me medicine. Everything is fine,” she says. “All I ask is to be returned home, to my family, to my parents, to my siblings, as soon as possible. Please get us out of here as quickly as possible.”
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that Mia was abducted last week and said officials had contacted Mia’s family and were in contact with them.
Last week Mia was kidnapped by Hamas.
IDF officials have now informed Mia’s family and are in constant contact with them.
In the video released by Hamas, they try to portray themselves as human. However, they are a terrible terrorist organization responsible for the…
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 16, 2023
“In the video released by Hamas, they are trying to portray themselves as human. However, they are a terrible terrorist organization responsible for the murder and kidnapping of babies, children, men, women and the elderly (sic),” read an IDF post on X.
“We are currently using all intelligence and operational measures to return all hostages, including Mia,” the IDF added.
According to a Times of Israel report, Miya’s family responded to the clip saying they were happy to see her safe.
Miya is an Israeli-French dual citizen. Her family was among French families who appealed to French President Emmanuel Macron last week to help free their loved ones, Portal news agency reported.