A woman who was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 and held captive for 54 days has announced her engagement.
Mia Schem shared a kiss with her fiancé today as she took to social media to announce her news.
Their engagement comes just two days before the one-year anniversary of their release from captivity in Gaza.
The 22-year-old was freed along with eight other hostages on November 30, 2023 during a temporary ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
On Instagram, Schem announced her engagement with a photo of her engagement ring.
She was also congratulated by the Israeli government’s official X account.
In a post on the platform they wrote: ‘Mazal Tov to Mia Schem and her partner Yinon who got engaged today!
‘Mia is an incredibly brave woman who was held hostage by Hamas for 54 days. Mine, you deserve all the happiness in the world. We love you.’
Mia Schem’s engagement comes just two days before the one-year anniversary of her release from captivity in Gaza.
Mrs. Schem was handed over to the Red Cross in November of last year. She was among the most prominent captains after Hamas released a video in the early days of the war showing her recovering from surgery.
On Instagram, Schem announced her engagement with a photo of her engagement ring.
Ms. Schem was among the most prominent captains after Hamas released a video in the early days of the war showing her recovering from surgery.
While she was imprisoned, a veterinarian operated on her arm, leaving the French-Israeli citizen with a visible scar.
Since her release, Ms. Schem has recalled the harrowing conditions she was kept in, which included being locked in a 5-foot-high cage 200 feet underground “with no air and no light” for five days with several other women. .
She also described how she was taken to the cage for two hours through Gaza’s infamous tunnels, with “an armed terrorist in front (and) armed terrorists behind” after spending 50 days in captivity.
Speaking in front of the United Nations National Security Council on November 6, the tattoo artist called on the UN to do more to resolve the hostage crisis.
Mrs Schem said: “For 50 days I was alone, suffering excruciating pain in my hand without any treatment.
‘A Hamas terrorist sat in front of me in a dark room with a gun pointed at my head.
‘Not a single humanitarian agency saw or treated me even though my arm was getting worse. Where was the Red Cross? Where was the UN demanding access to us?
Mia is seen walking with members of her family at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, after her release.
She was also congratulated by the Israeli government’s official X account. In a post on the platform they wrote: ‘Mazal Tov to Mia Schem and her partner Yinon who got engaged today!’
He continued: ‘Right now, 60 meters underground, with no air, no light, no hope, my friends are still being held by monsters.
‘My heart remains with them, captives in Gaza. I’m here and I demand that you bring them all home now!’
“More than a year has passed and the UN has not lifted a finger to free the hostages,” he added.
Ms. Schem previously spoke about her experience being held in the 5-foot-high cage while speaking outside the Israeli consulate in New York in October.
Referring to the moment she was locked up, she said: “There I met five young women, each with their own horrible kidnapping story.
“We spent five days in that dark cage, with two armed guards changing shifts every 12 hours.”
While the 22-year-old was freed in the first round of hostage releases five days later, more than a year later, the other women remain detained in Gaza.
Terrifying images showed Ms Schem surrounded by a screaming crowd as she was taken from a car and handed over to Red Cross officers on November 30 last year.
One person, believed to be a male relative, was seen kissing her forehead after not seeing her for seven weeks.
During the 54 days she was detained in Gaza, she was forced to film a propaganda video showing her receiving treatment for injuries she suffered during her abduction at the Nova Festival.
Upon arrival in Gaza, Ms. Schem was put in a building where someone operated on her hand. Her relatives stated that she had been operated on by a veterinarian.
The 22-year-old said she was locked in a 5-foot-high cage 200 feet underground “with no air and no light” for five days with several other women.
‘There was no anesthesia, or anything… I choked from the pain and (the person performing the operation) looks at me and says: ‘Stop it! Or I’ll send you to the tunnels,” he said in a previous interview.
Some 240 hostages were taken from southern Israel towards Gaza when Hamas launched its sudden attack on October 7.
More than 1,200 people were also killed in the attack when gunmen attacked residential kibbutzim and the Nova music festival near Re’im.
Hamas freed more than 100 hostages during a week-long ceasefire in late November last year, most of them agreed to as part of a deal with Israel.
However, more than 90 people are still missing, more than a year later.
More than 60 hostages are believed to be still alive and the bodies of another 35 held by Hamas.