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‘It Feels Like One Single Endless Day’: The Families of Hostages on Life After Oct. 7
Mia Schem, right, who was taken hostage at the Nova music festival, with mom Keren, and sister Danny
By Anna GordonOctober 7, 2024 3:33 PM EDT
A year has passed since Hamas launched the attack on Israel that set the Middle East ablaze. That dreadful day, on which 1,200 people were killed, would come to mark the start of the bloodiest war in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one that would result in more than 40,000 Palestinians killed, according to Gaza health ministry figures that the U.N. and U.S. government consider reliable, and would drag Israel into direct armed conflict with actors in Lebanon, Yemen, and Iran.
It was also the day hundreds of families across Israel and around the world learned the devastating news that their loved ones were either killed or missing, in what would become the largest-scale hostage crisis in the country’s history. Since then, of the 251 individuals who were taken into Gaza, 105 hostages have been freed via negotiations with Hamas. Another eight were rescued during daring but deadly operations. At least 35 hostages have also been confirmed dead since the war began, and approximately 100 remain in captivity one year later.
Last year, TIME spoke with over a dozen family members and close friends of those who were kidnapped. Featured on that cover were Jonathan Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son Hersh Goldberg-Polin was abducted at the Nova music festival and whose death was confirmed just over a month ago.
Now, one year later, photographer Michal Chelbin, who created the portraits for that story, visited with three of those families to see how their lives have changed since Oct. 7. Two of the families have been fortunate enough to see their loved ones return home, though the trauma of the last year lingers. One family, whose loved one is believed to remain a hostage in Gaza, is—like so many others—still waiting. These are their words, edited for length and clarity.
Keren Schem
Keren Schem’s daughter Mia Schem was kidnapped from the Nova music festival and taken into Gaza. Nine days after her capture, Hamas published a video of her, during which she confirmed her arm had been severely injured and asked to be returned home as quickly as possible. Fifty-five days into her captivity, Mia was freed in a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.
It’s really hard to internalize that a year has passed and there are still hostages in Gaza. There are still families that are in the same situation that I was in for two months. It’s something that is impossible to understand.
We still have not returned to normal life because the rehabilitation process is long. She needs to go through more surgeries, and also the emotional recovery. I don’t know how many years that will take. And because of the complex reality in Israel, the hostages, war, the soldiers—it’s not really possible to recover. Because of the trauma that Mia went through and that I went through, the triggers are always around. There is no normal life, and life before Oct. 7 is not life after Oct. 7. We still haven’t developed a new routine and lifestyle because we are still in the process of recovery.
Life has returned to normal, people returned to work. That’s how it is, it’s a natural thing. But it’s important to understand that 101 hostages are still in the tunnels of Gaza. It’s a situation that is unfathomable for the hostages and their families. The world can’t continue to go as normal so long as there are still people there.

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