Sobbing and bleeding: Mia Schem recounts sexual harassment, trauma of Gaza captivity

Mia Schem, a former hostage held by Hamas for 55 days following her abduction from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, shared chilling details of her ordeal on Tuesday, including the disturbing behavior of one of her captors and the ongoing trauma she faces a year later.

"He told me I had beautiful eyes and began asking if he truly loved his wife,” Schem said, describing the unsettling interactions with her captor during her captivity.

Schem endured severe physical and emotional challenges while in captivity, including makeshift surgery for an injury sustained during the attack. Just three days after she arrived in Gaza, she was forced to film a propaganda video.

"They made me state my name, my father’s name, and where I was kidnapped from," she recalled in an interview with N12.

'They told me they were planning to marry me off'

Her captors also made ominous comments about her future.

"They told me they were planning to marry me off in Gaza," Schem said. "I had dark thoughts about what would happen if I stayed there. I wondered how I could escape if no deal was made."

Schem spent her final five days in a cramped tunnel with several other hostages, describing it as "a nightmare." When she learned she would be released, the other hostages pleaded with her to remember them.

"They gave me their names and begged, ‘Don’t forget us,’" she said, admitting to feelings of guilt about leaving them behind.

Now, a year after her return, Schem continues to wrestle with the trauma.

"I’m stuck on October 7. It’s like time stopped for me that day," she said. "I feel hollow, as though I’m still there, and until all the hostages return, I can’t truly come home."

Despite her struggles, Schem is determined to find a path forward.

"If I was chosen to return, I can’t give up. I have to find a way to keep going," she said to N12.

Schem has become a prominent figure in the fight for the release of the remaining hostages still held by Hamas. Since her return, Schem's story has resonated deeply across the country, and she has shared the extreme hardships she endured while being held captive by the terrorist organization.

In a recent episode of ‘Connected: Life in War,’ Schem spoke with photographer Ziv Koren, the first to photograph her after her release, about the difficulties she had faced.

"We arrived at some place, and they put me in a room," Mia recalled, describing the severe injuries she suffered during her abduction. "They sat me in the corner; my hand was unbound, and I was bleeding. There were many Arabs around."

"A hospital bed under a small light was in the middle of the room—like something from a horror movie." She added that her hand had been tied with plastic for three days.

Mia also described a particularly distressing moment at her captor’s home.

"I had arrived there on the last day of my period and could barely walk, so they had to hold my hand."

"His wife followed me into the bathroom. I was crying, in pain, trying to put in a tampon but failing. I was sobbing, and she started screaming at me while he banged on the door. I fainted from the pain, left with no underwear or pants."

She further described the sexual harassment she experienced from her captor, who "kept reminding me that he had seen me without underwear."

Reflecting on the trauma, she said, "Throughout my captivity, I didn’t have a period due to the shock and trauma my body went through."