Retired Dundee nurse Elizabeth El-Nakla has shared a heartbreaking video update on the situation in Gaza after Israel ordered over 1 million people to evacuate towards where she is trapped in Deir Al-Balah.
Warning it would be her last video, Ms El-Nakla said those forced to flee Gaza City were moving towards where she is with her family – including husband Maged El-Nakla.
Ms El-Nakla said in her video: “Everyone in Gaza is moving towards where we are.
“One million people, no food, no water. Still they are bombing them as they leave.
“Where are they going to put them?”
The Israeli millitary has ordered 1.1 million people to evacuate northern Gaza according to reports from the United Nations, who described the order “devastating”.
The update was shared by First Minister Humza Yousaf, Ms El-Nakla’s son-in-law.
The region subject to the evacuation order includes Gaza’s biggest hospital, which Human Rights Watch has said is dealing with more than 6,000 casualties and two major refugee camps.
Ms El-Nakla said it was these people in hospital who could not leave she was most concerned about about Israel’s bombing campaign continues.
“Where is humanity?”, she pleads, adding: “where are people’s hearts in the world to let this happen in this day and age?”
“This will be my last video.
“May God help us. Goodbye,” she says as the clip ends.
This is Elizabeth El-Nakla. She is my mother-in-law. A retired nurse from Dundee, Scotland. She, like the vast majority of people in Gaza, has nothing to do with Hamas. She has been told to leave Gaza but, like the rest of the population, is trapped with nowhere to go. pic.twitter.com/D3ZUtnEmyO
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) October 13, 2023
The First Minister has called for an end to deaths in Gaza, saying the international should “step up” in response.
His wife Nadia El-Nakla has spoken of her torment at her parents ordeal, and her fear her family could die or end up in a refugee camp.
Mr Yousaf said on X, formerly known as Twitter: “The international community must step up and demand an end to collective punishment.
“Enough. There can be no justification for the death of innocent men, women & children.”
Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon said her thoughts were with her successor and his family.
She said: “My heart breaks for the people of Israel and for all the innocent civilians in Gaza who are also paying the price of Hamas’ appalling acts of terror.
“Closer to home, my thoughts are with my friends Nadia and Humza and their family, and also with Scotland’s precious Jewish community, at this unimaginably awful time.”
