Mia Schem, the French-Israeli reveller freed by Hamas after being taken hostage in the October 7 attacks, was seen last night at Elton John’s party for the Oscars in Los Angeles.
Schem, 21, who still sports a thick black cast after being shot in the arm by Hamas attackers, was snapped wearing a long white dress emblazoned with a yellow rhinestone pin, designed to raise awareness for Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.
The tattoo artist spent 54 days as a prisoner in the Palestinian enclave after being shot and taken hostage at the Nova festival massacre in southern Israel on October 7, before finally being released as part of a ceasefire and swap on November 30.
Schem is in the US as part of a tour to share her experiences in Hamas captivity and to campaign for the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza.
She arrived in the US last week to attend President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, before travelling to LA to attend the annual 32nd Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party.
Mia Schem (L) attends the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s 32nd Annual Academy Awards Viewing Party on March 10, 2024 in West Hollywood, California
Mia Schem attends the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s 32nd Annual Academy Awards Viewing Party on March 10, 2024 in West Hollywood, California
Mia Schem, freed Israeli hostage who was abducted by Hamas, attends President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address during a joint meeting of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol on March 07, 2024
Mia Schem (21) who was kidnapped on October 7th from the Nova party in Reim, was wounded and returned to Israel on November 30th, is seen at home
In first official proof of life of Israeli hostage, Hamas released a video of Schem after she underwent an operation on her arm
Mia Schem is seen in a van alongside fellow Israeli captive Amit Soussana shortly before their release
Schem made headlines as one of the first Israeli captives to be seen in video footage from within Gaza.
She was seen in grainy video footage with a bloody bandage covering her arm, having been operated on in captivity, allegedly by a vet.
In the clip, Schem said in Hebrew that ‘everything is fine’, that she received medical treatment for injuries, and pleaded for her release.
‘Hi, I’m Mia Schem, 21-years-old from Shoham,’ she said in the first clip. ‘Currently, I’m in Gaza. I was seriously injured in my hand. I underwent surgery on my arm at the hospital for three hours.
‘They are taking care of me, giving me medicine, everything is fine,’ she was heard saying at the time.
Before she was freed, she was made to film another video, in which she said of her time in captivity: ‘People very good, very kind to me… Food good and the kindness and everything good.’
The report was flagged for running contrary to the accounts of other hostages who were reported to have lost as much as 10kg in less than two months of captivity, blamed on poor diets and improper medical care.
Upon her release, Schem quickly changed her tune and spoke out against Hamas and the treatment of hostages.
Speaking with Israeli outlet Channel 13 days after regaining her freedom, Schem said it was ‘important to me to relay the truth about the nature of the people who live in Gaza, who they are truly and what I experienced there’.
‘I went through a holocaust,’ she said. ‘Everyone over there is a terrorist. I felt like an animal in a zoo.’
Mia Schem continues to relay the horrors she experienced as a hostage of Hamas in Gaza
Schem walks to the House chamber before President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, March 7, 2024, in Washington
Mia Schem is seen dancing and smiling at music festival in footage before her kidnapping
Upon her release from captivity, Schem’s carers raised concerns she had received improper treatment.
‘She is thin, she is weak,’ Schem’s aunt Vivian Hadar told media. ‘A vet operated on her arm. She did not receive physiotherapy.’
She was seized by Hamas gunmen at the Nova music festival along with her friend Elia Toledano, 27.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum described Schem as ‘a young woman with an old soul’ who was studying tattooing and worked at a tattoo parlour prior to her kidnapping.
Some 240 hostages were taken from southern Israel into Gaza when Hamas launched its sudden assault on October 7.
More than 1,200 were also killed in the attack as armed gunmen struck residential kibbutzim and the Nova music festival near Re’im.
Hamas released more than 100 hostages during a week-long ceasefire at the end of November, most of them agreed as part of a deal with Israel.
A total of 110 hostages had been released by December 1, only women and children. A number still in captivity have been reported dead in the weeks since.
Few civilians returning from Gaza have given extensive accounts of their time spent as hostages.
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