FUTURE OF HOPE
Brave Israeli hostage Mia Schem, 21, gets defiant tattoo in message to Hamas after being operated on by VET in captivity
This comes as UN officials warn that Gaza is becoming a slaughterhouse
A FREED Hamas hostage has recently inked up in defiance of the October 7 attacks.
Mia Schem, 21, was abducted from the Tribe of Nova desert rave and released almost two months later - as part of the temporary ceasefire agreement.
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Now, days after being released, the Israeli-French tattoo artist has gotten a defiant tattoo to commemorate the pain and suffering, as well as the hope that she still has.
Her tattoo marks the date she was abducted "7.10.23" and has the phrase "We will dance again" inscribed just above it.
Mia shared photos of her latest ink to her Instagram with a moving explanation in the caption.
She wrote: "7.10.23 I will never forget.
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"The pain and the fear, the difficult sights, the friends that will not come back and the ones we must get back.
"But we will win, we will dance!”
On October 7, Mia was taken by Hamas during their brutal assault on Israel at the Supernova music festival.
It has been estimated that Hamas slaughtered at least 260 people at the festival, while tens of festivalgoers were taken hostage.
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Soon after the start of the war, her family confirmed that they had identified Mia in a hostage video.
In the one-minute-long video posted to Telegram, Mia said: "Hi, I'm Mia Schem, 21 years old from Shoham. Currently, I'm in Gaza.
"I was seriously injured in my hand. I underwent surgery on my arm at the hospital for 3 hours.
"They are taking care of me, giving me medicine, everything is fine."
Mia's aunt, Galit, told Israeli media: "Today [the family] called me screaming and told me that they see Mia in a video on Telegram.
"I saw her, and I thought I was dreaming. I finally saw the girl after all this time.
“She looks hurt and scared – but at least she’s alive.”
Galit also said: ''We demand that the countries of the free world make sure that she return to us.
''She was with a very good friend of hers - Elya Toledano, and we heard nothing more about him. We want to know he's okay.''
Keren Schem, Mia's devastated mother, who had last spoken to her daughter the day before the horrific attack on Israel, spoke at a press conference in Tel Aviv.
Keren broke down while holding up a photo of her stolen daughter, and said: ''I ask world leaders that my daughter be returned to us in the state that she is today, as well as the other hostages.
''I beg the world to return my baby to me."
After 55 days in captivity, on November 30, Mia was finally released.
Photos show the 21-year-old hugging her family for the first time since Hamas kidnapped her on October 7.
Mia was also pictured with her family at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, where she is receiving medical care following her ordeal.
Mia's aunt Vivian Hadar said: "Finally she is with us. She was traumatised.
"She is thin, she is weak. A vet operated on her arm. She did not receive physiotherapy.
"She told them that she was not a soldier and that she has French citizenship."
This comes as Qatar has said that they are continuing their efforts to mediate a ceasefire and to release the 100 hostages still held by Hamas.
They revealed that their job has become significantly harder due to a lack of willingness to negotiate now.
Israel has refused to end the war - saying that it cannot end before they achieve their aim of annihilating Hamas.
But UN officials are warning that without a ceasefire, Gaza is becoming a slaughterhouse.
Aid agencies has also warned that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is worsening by the minute.
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Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people are now homeless, trapped in a coastal enclave with no shelter, no food, and no water.
At least 18,000 Palestinians have been killed, with tens of thousands more presumed dead under the debris and rubble.
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