‘We will dance again’: Freed Hamas hostage Mia Schem gets poignant tattoo commemorating Nova Festival victims after horror ordeal being shot at and operated on by a vet
Freed Hamas hostage Mia Shem got a poignant tattoo on her arm in memory of the victims of the Nova Festival massacre.
The 21-year-old French-Israeli tattoo artist was captured during the October 7 massacre in which hundreds of freedom-loving festival-goers were brutally murdered during the terrorist group’s massive incursion into Israel.
Eleven days after her release, Mia got a new tattoo commemorating the date of the festival massacre, with the poignant words “We will dance again” written above, in memory of the 364 people killed.
She was shot and taken back to Gaza, where she was held captive for 54 days, during which she spent three hours in the operating room where a veterinarian operated on her wounded arm.
Mia became one of the most high-profile captives after Hamas released a video in the early days of the war in which she was forced to repeat terrorist propaganda.
French-Israeli Mia Shem, 21, got a new tattoo on her arm in memory of the 364 people killed in the Nova Festival massacre on October 7.
The freed Hamas hostage has the date of the massacre written on her arm and the poignant words “We will dance again” written above.
Mia gets a new tattoo from her friend and mentor Liav Forer. In a heartbreaking message, she wrote: “10/7/23 I will never forget. Pain and fear, difficult sights, friends who will not return, and those whom we must return.”
Touching footage shows a tearful Mia reunited with her parents on November 30 after she was released during Israel’s seven-day truce with Hamas brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the US.
Yesterday Mia posted a photo of herself on her Instagram page, obtained exclusively by MailOnline, showing off the new body art, her injured arm still bandaged and held in a sling.
In a heartbreaking message, she wrote: “10/7/23 I will never forget. Pain and fear, difficult sights, friends who will not return, and those whom we must return.
“But we still have to win, We will still dance!”
The post has received more than 165,000 likes and hundreds of messages of support. In one of them she is described as “a symbol of light, hope and love.”
The new tattoo was inked by her mentor and friend, Liav Forer, 36, who has a studio in the central Israeli city of Modiin-Maccabim-Reut.
The artist posted photos on his Instagram stories of Mia sitting in a chair getting a tattoo.
Talking to Time Last month, before Mia’s release, he spoke of their close bond.
“Mia and I have known each other for a long time, we met as friends and she came and gave me tattoos,” he said.
Mia is with Liav Forer, who previously spoke of their close bond before she was released from captivity.
Mia (pictured center) was one of two women released by Hamas after the ceasefire was extended minutes before it was due to expire.
The French-Israeli hostage had been held captive for 54 days since October 7, when she was dragged into the Gaza Strip.
Mia, surrounded by gunmen and hundreds of screaming men, looks petrified as she is put into a Red Cross vehicle.
“She dreamed of becoming a tattoo artist and working in a studio, and a year ago she came back from Thailand and started working with me to run a new studio.”
Shem was one of eight hostages released by Hamas hours before it broke a seven-day ceasefire and began fighting last week.
After her release, Mia’s aunt told Israeli media that her niece received less than stellar care in captivity. “She’s thin, she’s weak. The vet operated on her hand. She did not receive physical therapy,” she said.
The extent of Mia’s injuries has not yet been determined, but it is believed she will likely make a good recovery with physical therapy once she leaves the hospital.
Mia was captured by Hamas militants at the Nova music festival along with her 27-year-old friend Elia Toledano. She is believed to still be held captive by Hamas.
The world watched in horror as Hamas terrorists exposed Mia in October in a chilling video in which she begged Israeli officials to “get her out of the Gaza Strip.” The video shows her injured arm being treated by an unknown medical worker.
After seeing the video of her daughter, her mother Keren begged “the world to bring” her daughter home, with the grieving mother saying at the time that she was afraid of what the terrorists would do to “her child”.
But before she was released, she was forced to make a video about her experience as a hostage. In an emotional video shared by Hamas, she says: “The people are very good, very kind to me… The food is good, the kindness and everything else is good.”
Hamas terrorists paraded Mia in a chilling video in which she begged Israeli officials to “get her out of the Gaza Strip.”
Mia looked full of life and beaming with happiness as she danced with friends in footage filmed at the ill-fated Nova festival.
A video posted by her family shows Mia dancing and smiling with friends at the Nova Festival.
Mia was seen smiling as she left the hospital surrounded by her grateful family after being released from captivity.
Touching footage shows Shem leaving Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan with his mother and brother.
She became one of the most high-profile captives after Hamas released a video in the early days of the war showing her recovering from surgery.
“Hi, I’m Mia Shem, 21 years old, from Shoham. I am currently in Gaza. I was seriously wounded in the arm. I had surgery on my hand in the hospital within 3 hours. They are taking care of me, giving me medicine, everything is fine,” she was heard saying then.