AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg
- Mia Schem's mom said she didn't know her daughter was alive until she saw a Hamas hostage video.
- "I am begging the world to bring my baby back home," Keren Schem told reporters on Tuesday.
- Mia Schem is one of about 200 people believed to have been abducted in Israel by Hamas fighters.
The mother of Mia Schem — the French-Israeli citizen who was abducted by Hamas after the Palestinian militant group launched its terrorist attacks on Israel more than a week ago — said she did not know that her daughter was alive until she saw her bandaged up in a newly released hostage video.
Hamas released the short clip late Monday that shows 21-year-old Schem lying down as a person off-camera wraps bandages around her right arm. Later in the video, the young woman can be seen pleading to be returned to her family.
"At the moment, I am in Gaza," Schem says in the video — which is the first of its kind issued by Hamas since its deadly, surprise attacks on the Jewish state — according to a translation published by The New York Times.
"I just ask that I am returned as fast as possible to my family, to my parents, and to my siblings," Schem said, according to the news outlet, adding, "Please get us out of here as quickly as possible."
Schem is one of roughly 200 people believed to have been taken hostage into Gaza by Hamas fighters during the group's assault that has left more than 1,400 people dead in Israel.
The young woman's mother, Keren Schem, spoke to reporters on Tuesday in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv and implored world leaders to get her daughter home safely and "stop this terror."
"I am begging the world to bring my baby back home. She only went to a festival party to have some fun, and now she's in Gaza, and she is not the only one," Keren Schem said, CNN reported.
"This is a crime against humanity," the devastated mom continued, according to footage of the press conference.
Keren Schem explained that she did not know whether her daughter was dead or alive until she saw the video Hamas released.
"I saw she is alive," the mom said. "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's saying what they tell her to say."
Mia Schem was at the Supernova music festival near the Gaza border when Hamas militants stormed into Israel and massacred more than 260 attendees.
The young woman's mother told CNN that her daughter is "very strong" and that her family had hope Schem was still alive "because we knew that she will never give up."
Meanwhile, an Israeli army spokesman called the hostage video of Mia Schem "psychological warfare," according to Reuters.
"With the goals of this war to dismantle Hamas, the hostages remain a key priority in balancing our efforts," the spokesman said.
As a result of the attacks by Hamas, Israel declared war, launching relentless retaliatory airstrikes in Gaza and killing more than 2,700 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.