Mia Schem, the French-Israeli partier who was freed by Hamas after being taken hostage in the October 7 attacks, was spotted at Elton John’s Oscar party in Los Angeles last night.
Schem, 21, who still wears a thick black cast after being shot in the arm by Hamas attackers, was snapped wearing a long white dress adorned with a yellow rhinestone pin, designed to raise awareness of Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza.
The tattoo artist spent 54 days as a prisoner in the Palestinian enclave after being shot and taken hostage in the Nova festival massacre in southern Israel on October 7, before finally being released as part of a ceasefire and exchange on November 30.
Schem is in the US as part of a tour to share his 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 traveling to LA to attend the 32nd annual 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 kidnapped by Hamas, watches President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address during a joint session of Congress in the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol on March 7, 2024
Mia Schem (21), who was kidnapped on October 7 from the Nova party in Reim, was injured and returned to Israel on November 30, is seen at home
In the first official proof of the life of an Israeli hostage, Hamas released a video of Schem after she underwent surgery on her arm
Mia Schem is seen in a van with Israeli prisoner Amit Soussana shortly before their release
Schem made headlines as one of the first Israeli prisoners to be seen in video footage from Gaza.
She was seen in grainy video footage with a bloody bandage covering her arm after being operated on in captivity, allegedly by a vet.
In the clip, Schem said in Hebrew that ‘everything is fine’, that she was receiving medical treatment for injuries, and asked for her release.
“Hi, I’m Mia Schem, 21 years old from Shoham,” she said in the first clip. ‘At the moment I am in Gaza. I seriously injured my hand. I had surgery on my arm in the hospital for three hours.
“They’re taking care of me, giving me medicine, everything’s fine,” she was heard saying at the time.
Before her release, she was forced to film another video in which she said of her time in captivity: ‘People are very good, very kind to me… Good food and kindness and everything good.’
The report was flagged for running counter to accounts from other hostages who were reported to have lost as much as 10kg in less than two months of captivity, blamed on poor diets and incorrect medical treatment.
After her release, Schem quickly changed her tune, speaking out against Hamas and the treatment of hostages.
Speaking to the Israeli outlet Channel 13 days after regaining his freedom, Schem said it was “important for me to convey the truth about the nature of the people living in Gaza, who they really are 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 convey 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 a music festival in footage before her kidnapping
When she was released from captivity, Schem’s carers raised concerns that she had received improper treatment.
“She’s thin, she’s weak,” Schem’s aunt Vivian Hadar told the media. ‘A vet operated on her arm. She did not receive physiotherapy’.
She was seized by Hamas gunmen at the Nova music festival with her friend Elia Toledano, 27.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum described Schem as ‘a young woman with an old soul’ who studied tattooing and worked at a tattoo parlor before her kidnapping.
About 240 hostages were taken from southern Israel into Gaza when Hamas launched its surprise attack on October 7.
More than 1,200 were also killed in the attack, when armed gunmen struck residential kibbutzim and the Nova music festival near Re’im.
Hamas released more than 100 hostages during a week-long ceasefire in late November, most of them agreed as part of a deal with Israel.
A total of 110 hostages had been released by 1 December, 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 as hostages.