Humza Yousaf says in-laws are alive in Gaza but have run out of water after days of no contact
Scotland's first minister says his in-laws are alive after days without contact - but he fears for their safety as they have ran out of clean drinking water.
Sunday 29 October 2023 13:19, UK
Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf has said he has now spoken to his in-laws trapped in Gaza after losing contact with them.
He had said on Saturday that he and his wife, Nadia-El Nakla, had not been able to get in touch with her parents since the previous day after communications were cut off and he did not know if they were dead or alive.
In an update on Sunday, Mr Yousaf said on X, formerly Twitter, that he has now heard from them.
He said they are alive but he fears for their safety as they have run out of drinking water.
He said: "We heard from my in-laws in Gaza this morning, they are alive, thank God.
"However, they have run out of clean drinking water.
"The UN resolution must be implemented.
"We need the violence to stop, and for significant amounts of aid to get through without delay."
Mr Yousaf's in-laws, Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla, travelled to Gaza from Scotland to visit family prior to the conflict breaking out on October 7 and have been trapped ever since.
Israel-Gaza latest: Israeli military chief says 'soldiers now operating in Gaza'
Over the weekend the Israeli military knocked out communications and created a near-blackout of information in Gaza as it announced an expansion of ground operations and warned residents to move south.
Speaking to Sky News on Saturday, Mr Yousaf said: "We are one of many thousands of families, I suspect, across the world who are desperately worried about whether or not our loved ones are alive or dead and I simply don't know the answer to that question."
Mr Yousaf said in the last conversation he had with his mother-in-law, Elizabeth, a retired nurse, she told him there had been an intense night of bombing and that the family home, which usually has 10 people in it, was housing 100 people.
"The hundred in the house spent a fair chunk of the evening deciding which room they would go in and which corner they would huddle into should there be an airstrike that hits the home," he said.
"Because they wanted to find out if the house does crumble, where would they be the safest.
"That isn't a conversation anybody should have to have - certainly not any innocent men, women and children.
"So you can imagine we are feeling quite numb, to be frank, and desperately worried about their safety."
Read more from Sky News:
Ongoing ground operation in Gaza is 'only the beginning', Israel's PM says
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Mr Yousaf said his mother-in-law and father-in-law Maged, a retired business owner, are among an estimated 200 UK citizens thought to be in Gaza, who "feel abandoned by the UK government".
He also reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire, adding: "How many more children do we need to die until people are unequivocal, their demand for no more bombs to be falling on any innocent man woman or child?"