It is still unclear how many hostages are held in Gaza. Libby Weiss told CNN on Tuesday that the release of the video was “another way by Hamas to wage a psychological war” on civilian population of Israel. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that it had informed Schem’s family about her kidnapping last week and are keeping in touch with them at this time. That’s why we all believed in our hearts that she is alive, because we knew that she will never give up.”ĬNN cannot independently verify where and when the video of Schem was taken and what condition she is in at the moment. Schem’s mother told CNN on Monday that she believed her daughter’s resilience would help her survive.
“I saw she is alive, I saw that she was… I heard before rumors that she was shot in the shoulder or in the leg so I can see she was shot in her shoulder, I see she had an operation, she looks very terrified, she looks like she is in big pain, and I can see that she says what they tell her to say,” she told reporters, urging everyone to “stop this terror” and bring her daughter back home along with other hostages.
Scharf Schem said she did not know if her daughter was dead or alive until Monday and that all she knew is that she might have been kidnapped. Keren Scharf Schem holds a photo of her daughter, Mia, at a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 17, 2023.
