ON ASSIGNMENT FOR ZEIT ONLINE

In the past few days, I worked with the journalists of Zeit to tell the story of the suffering of families whose sons, wives, and brothers have been abducted by Hamas. For ZEIT Online with Steffi Hentschke Jutta Schein , Tina Ahrens,  Amelie Schneide Johannes Bhome.

[…]Tuesday morning, the world press is gathered on the seventh floor of a modest office building in the center of Tel Aviv. Camera crews from CNN, ABC, Sky News, and NBC are vying for the best view of a slender woman with long ash-blonde hair and dark eyeshadow who is seated behind a bouquet of microphones. It’s Keren Sharf Shem, the mother of Mia Shem.

Just hours earlier, Hamas had released a video of her 21-year-old daughter in the Gaza Strip. It’s the first official video of a hostage since the attack by Palestinian terrorists in southern Israel on October 7th. Mia is injured, but she is alive. Keren Sharf Shem is the first relative in Israel to have certainty.

Mia Shem was one of the 3,500 attendees at the Nova Music Festival in the Negev Desert in southern Israel, located five kilometers from the Gaza Strip. She had gone missing since the Hamas attack, and her mother had desperately tried to get any sign of life from her. […] by Steffi Hentschke. For the full story please visit ZEIT Online.