[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Freed Israeli hostage Mia Schem has broken her silence to share a harrowing account of captivity in Gaza, following her release at the end of last month.
Schem, 21, spent 54 days as a prisoner in the Palestinian enclave after being shot and taken hostage at the Nova festival massacre in southern Israel on October 7, before finally being released as part of a ceasefire and swap on November 30.
In her first interview since her release, she told Israeli outlet Channel 13 'I wanted to project the real situation about the people living in Gaza, who they really are and about what I've been through over there.'
'I went through a holocaust,' she said. 'Everyone over there is a terrorist.'
Schem, a French-Israeli tattoo-artist from Shoham in central Israel, claimed that she was held with a civilian family, with children, while in Gaza.
'It is families under the Hamas regime, you know. I realised that I was staying with a family. And then I start asking myself questions… why am I staying with a family? Why are there children here? Why is there a woman here?'
Before she was freed, she was made to film a video speaking about her experience, in which she said: 'People very good, very kind to me... Food good and the kindness and everything good.'
The report was made headlines as it contradicted accounts of other hostages who recounted abuse in captivity, prompting concerns she had been made to speak against her will.
Aviva Siegel reportedly told hostage relatives and members of Israel's war cabinet upon her return how guards had broken her husband's ribs and described how he languishes in prison 'barely' able to sit or eat.
'They touch girls, and everyone knows it. I won't recount details, but we had a procedure that no one moves without someone guarding them,' another female hostage said, as reported by Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
'Medications ran out, and they gave us the wrong drugs,' she added.
On December 6, a doctor treating hostages said at least ten had been sexually abused while in captivity.
The medic claimed men and women had been physically abused while held hostage, after treating some of the 110 released as part of a week-long truce in late November.
The doctor did not provide additional details and spoke on condition of anonymity to protect the identity of the hostages.
But his claims aligned with the testimonies of other freed hostages, who told a closed meeting of government officials on December 5 how women were 'touched' by Hamas guards, pleading for Israel to do more to secure the release of the remaining hostages.
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