Humza Yousaf and Nadia El-Nakla have said their family in the Gaza Strip feels like “they’re waiting to die”.
Speaking to STV News on Tuesday, the former first minister and his wife said they feel angry and “unbelievably helpless” as relatives starve in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Just last week, they said councillor El-Nakla’s father’s cousin was shot in the street.
Some family members have managed to escape Gaza. But El-Nakla’s cousin Sally, her husband, and their four children remain stuck.
STV News“She feels like they’re going to die, and they’re just desperate to leave,” El-Nakla told STV News.
“She’s begging me if there’s anything we can do to leave. It’s heartbreaking, it’s unimaginable, and yet we’re watching it.
“I send Sally a voice note through Instagram pretty much every day, but it’s really hard because what they want to hear is that we can get you out, and I can’t. And there are no words of comfort to fill their stomach.”
SuppliedEl-Nakla said that her dad’s 44-year-old cousin was shot in the stomach and run over by a tank last week when he went out to get flour and food for his family.
“That’s been really devastating. He was one of my dad’s closest cousins,” El-Nakla said.
“He’s got two young kids. He didn’t need to die. There was no reason he got killed in the street trying to get food for his family. You wouldn’t treat an animal that way. It’s difficult to comprehend.”
‘First Minister is doing what he can’
Scottish GovernmentJohn Swinney described the ongoing crisis in Gaza as a “genocide” for the first time over the weekend after a Fringe show he appeared at was repeatedly disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters.
Yousaf said the First Minister is “doing what he can” to raise awareness of the situation and put pressure on the Prime Minister, but he said “calling it a genocide is the least any leader can do”.
Yousaf said what the situation needs is “meaningful action” from the UK and other governments.
“We need them to impose sanctions on Israel, we need them to stop selling arms and weapons to Israel, and they need to make sure Israel is isolated in the same way that apartheid South Africa was a number of years ago. That’s the only way Israel will change its stance,” Yousaf said.
In recent weeks, more than 100 aid agencies have warned that “mass starvation” is spreading across Gaza as Israel is accused of not allowing enough food and other supplies into the area.
Dozens of Palestinians were killed or wounded on Monday as desperate crowds headed toward food distribution points and airdropped parcels in the Gaza Strip, according to witnesses and local health officials.
Several hundred Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since May while heading toward food distribution sites and aid convoys, according to witnesses, local health officials and the United Nations human rights office.
“People are slowly being killed,” Yousaf said.
“They know today is worse than yesterday, and they fear that tomorrow will be even worse than today. Every day is progressively getting even worse.”
The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) says it has only fired warning shots and disputes the death toll.
On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would convene his Security Cabinet in the coming days to direct the army on the next stage of the war, hinting that even tougher military action was an option in Gaza.
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