{"id":26913,"date":"2023-11-16T17:39:33","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T17:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cahootie.com\/?p=26913"},"modified":"2023-11-16T17:39:33","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T17:39:33","slug":"mother-of-21-year-old-israeli-woman-kidnapped-by-hamas-begs-for-safe-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cahootie.com\/world-news\/mother-of-21-year-old-israeli-woman-kidnapped-by-hamas-begs-for-safe-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother of 21-year-old Israeli woman kidnapped by Hamas begs for safe return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel: Police rescue young girls after Hamas attack<\/h3>\n

The mother of a 21-year-old woman kidnapped by Hamas has said the slow release of a few hostages feels \u201clike Russian roulette\u201d.<\/p>\n

Keren Scharf Schem, 50, has not seen her daughter Mia since the evening of October 6, when she announced plans to attend the Nova music festival with friends.<\/p>\n

Keren watched with horror as news of the barbaric terror attacks broke on TV and for the next week feared Mia was among the 260 murdered partygoers.<\/p>\n

On the night after the attacks, as her country struggled to comprehend the scale of the bloodshed unleashed by Hamas, Keren was asked to provide a DNA sample for use by investigators identifying victims\u2019 bodies.<\/p>\n

Then, Mia appeared in a hostage video released by Hamas on October 16.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The footage showed the young woman lying down as her hand and arm were bandaged at an awkward angle. Later, sitting up and speaking in Hebrew, Mia said she was in Gaza and asked to return home.<\/p>\n

Keren could not bear to watch more than the first few frames. She said: \u201cShe was very, very scared and pale.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see that she\u2019s in physical pain and trauma. She said what they told her to say, this was their words, not hers.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first reaction was to be happy because I saw that she\u2019s alive. I just felt like I was going to collapse because she\u2019s hurt and [because of] what she\u2019s been through.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow it\u2019s been a month since this video and I have no sign of life. The Red Cross is not allowed to go there and no other organisations, so I know nothing about her. It\u2019s terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Hamas is believed to be holding 239 people hostage – or possibly 240, as one woman who was eight months pregnant may have given birth.<\/p>\n

Five of those abducted have been released or rescued so far including Yocheved Lifshitz, an 85-year-old woman who was freed after 16 days.<\/p>\n

The frail-looking grandmother stunned the world when she shook hands with one of her gun-wielding captors and said \u201cShalom\u201d, a Hebrew greeting meaning \u201cpeace\u201d.<\/p>\n

Yocheved later described how she was hit with a wooden pole and tied to a motorcycle during the kidnapping, before being taken into a spider\u2019s web of tunnels.<\/p>\n

Since discovering Mia was being held, single mother-of-four Keren has worried about her daughter\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

Mia had pre-existing medical conditions, which needed regular care, and also told a friend via text message before she was captured that she had been shot in the leg.<\/p>\n