Hamas launched a video late Monday of Mia Schem, one of many practically 200 individuals believed to be held hostage in Gaza after the group launched a cross-border assault on Israel 9 days in the past.
The 60-second video — the primary launched by the group to point out any of the hostages — begins with Ms. Schem, 21, receiving medical therapy for a wound above her proper elbow and reveals her arm being wrapped in bandages by an individual off-camera.
The subsequent pictures are of Ms. Schem, who disappeared from the positioning of a music pageant the place at the very least 260 individuals had been killed, talking on to the digicam in Hebrew.
“At the moment I am in Gaza,” Ms. Schem says in a solemn, clipped voice. She says that she is being taken care of and that her arm was operated on for 3 hours at a hospital. The video ends together with her plea to be returned to Israel.
“I just ask that I am returned as fast as possible to my family, to my parents, and to my siblings,” she says. “Please get us out of here as quickly as possible.”
The Israeli navy issued an announcement after the video was launched that stated Hamas was “trying to portray itself as a humane organization, while it is a murderous terrorist organization responsible for the murder and abduction of babies, women, children and elderly.”
A good friend of the Schem household stated the household had seen the clip and confirmed Ms. Schem’s id. The good friend requested anonymity, citing fears of harassment. The household identify can be transliterated as Shem.
According to an evaluation by The New York Times, metadata contained throughout the video file signifies that a few of the footage was filmed at the very least six days in the past.
Israeli officers stated on Monday that 199 individuals had been being held captive by Hamas — about 50 greater than beforehand identified — within the wake of the assault, which left greater than 1,400 victims lifeless. Israel has responded with heavy airstrikes on Gaza, the Palestinian enclave managed by Hamas, and threats of a floor invasion. Hamas has claimed that at the very least some captives have been killed within the strikes, a declare inconceivable to independently confirm.
Ms. Schem’s mom, Keren Schem, stated final week that she had final spoken to her on Oct. 6, the day earlier than the assault. The household had gathered at their residence in a small city exterior of Tel Aviv to have a good time the tip of the Jewish vacation of Sukkot.
“She called me to say she was going to a party down south,” Keren Schem stated. “I asked her where, and she said she wasn’t sure.”
The subsequent morning, simply after 7 a.m., Keren Schem’s telephone began buzzing with news of the assault, a collection of raids on the communities closest to the Gaza Strip.
She tried, frantically, to succeed in her daughter however her calls went unanswered.
“I couldn’t stop calling,” Keren Schem stated. “I kept telling myself, it’s OK, it was a party with thousands of people. What are the chances my daughter was hurt? I was trying to be rational, but I had no idea of the scale of the attack. I couldn’t have guessed it was a massacre.”
She ultimately heard from one of many organizers of the get together, a good friend of her daughter’s, that Mia had despatched a textual content message at 7:17 a.m.: “They are shooting at us, come save us.”
What occurred after that isn’t clear. Keren Schem stated one one who was on the present described having seen her daughter strolling towards a kibbutz close by. Another instructed her she had been noticed in a automotive {that a} Hamas gunman sprayed with bullets.
Keren Schem stated she joined two WhatsApp teams of households and buddies with lacking family members from the music pageant — solely to see messages from individuals claiming to be affiliated with Hamas, threatening to hurt her daughter.
And her sister, individually, put her telephone quantity on-line, she stated, however “had someone call her in Arabic, yelling. Now we don’t answer any phone calls from numbers we don’t know.”
Nadav Gavrielov contributed reporting.
Source: www.nytimes.com