Dundee councillor Nadia El-Nakla has spoken about her fear she may never see her trapped parents again as they are unable to escape Gaza.
West End councillor Ms El-Nakla – who is married to First Minister Humza Yousaf – told how her mum has not slept since Monday and feels as if “every part of her body is shaking”.
She also revealed some of her family members have had their homes destroyed in missile strikes.
Her parents Elizabeth El-Nakla and Maged El-Nakla, who live in Dundee, had been visiting family, including her frail gran, in the Palestinian territory.
‘They are caught up in a war’
She spoke out as her husband Mr Yousaf, the SNP leader, told The Courier they can barely sleep for fear of the next day’s update.
Supplies are down to the last few bottles of water, and hours go by with no text messages.
At one stage during a round of media interviews on Thursday, Mr Yousaf was interrupted by his wife in tears fearing the home her family in Gaza were staying in had been bombed.
Mr Yousaf – although visibly shaken by the news – insisted the interview went ahead.
When the interview resumed, he said: “(Nadia’s) family live in a place called Deir Al-Balah, it’s just outside Gaza City.
“Nadia was watching Al-Jazeera Live – and Nadia used to travel to Deir Al-Balah before the blockade – and she recognised the neighbourhood, it was their neighbourhood being hit.
“She couldn’t get through to her mum and dad, so she was obviously very distressed.
“But she has, thank God, her mum has got a message through saying, ‘our neighbourhood is being hit, we haven’t been hit yet’.”
Mr Yousaf has been approached by people in Scotland, England and as far as Germany who are in a similar situation and are desperate for help.
He is due to meet members of the Jewish community today and pledged to show he is “first minister for all of Scotland”.
The collective punishment of 2.2 million people just cannot be justified.
– First Minister Humza Yousaf.
Earlier, Ms El-Nakla told the BBC: “My mother says that there is continual bombardment from land, sea and air.”
She added: “At times my arms feel like lead and it feels like I am just living in a nightmare for them. So I can’t understand how they feel.”
The couple had hoped to escape via the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt on Friday, but Ms El-Nakla said it was bombed and that there is no way out.
She fears they could also face an impossible situation even if the border does reopen as other relatives do not have a UK passport.
Her family in the area includes her brother and his young children, including Ms El-Nakla’s eight-week old nephew.
She said: “Every time the bombs go off his arms just flail in fear. I fear that his little heart can’t take that continual bombardment.”
The UK Foreign Office said it is speaking with Egypt about maintaining the land crossing.
Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel during the first minister’s parents-in-law’s visit, killing 1,200 people according to officials in the country.
It has prompted an eruption of violence, with Palestinian officials saying Israeli airstrikes have killed over 1,000 people.
Ms El-Nakla expressed concern about the language as a result of the conflict, including claims Gaza would be “obliterated”.
“It puts the complete fear into me that I am never going to see them again,” she said.
“This needs to be a time when medical resources, food, water, basic human needs are met. That is international law.
“It is really vital.”
Ms El-Nakla says she has a number of fears for her family: “First is they die. Second is they are starving. Three is the house is put to rubble and they are in camps.
“That is really scary.”
First Minister describes families’ pain
In an interview with The Courier on Thursday, Mr Yousaf said: “We’re in the same situation as day one except my in-laws supplies are running close to zero.
“They are now very much rationing their supplies.”
His mother-in-law told him today that they are down to “a few plastic bottles of water”.
Mr Yousaf has already written to the Foreign Office hoping for humanitarian help for anyone trapped.
“The collective punishment of 2.2 million people just cannot be justified,” he said.
“Israel has every right to protect its citizens from terror – nobody can doubt that – it cannot come at the cost of 2.2 million innocent people.”
Mr Yousaf was speaking to The Courier at his official government home in Edinburgh before a planned visit on Thursday evening to meet members of the Jewish community in the Glasgow area at a memorial service.
“I’m hearing from the Jewish community who are ridden with anxiety and worry about their own families, some of whom are still missing,” he said.
“I’m hearing from the Palestinian community in Scotland, again many of them tell me they haven’t heard from family or have lost family in Gaza.”
Mr Yousaf added: “I am first minister and I promised at the very beginning when I took this role that I’d be first minister for all of Scotland – and I’ll stand true to those words.
“Our Jewish community is hurting and need their first minister to be visibly there for them.”
He said people should stand back from the wider “geopolitical differences” in the region.
“What we’re talking about is a common humanity, where people are worried about their family. I can understand that because I’m worrying about my mother-in-law and father-in-law every hour of the day.”
