Humza Yousaf’s mother-in-law has said she “can’t take another night” in Gaza, an SNP MP has said.
Elizabeth El-Nakla has been stuck in Gaza with her husband, Maged, since the escalation in hostilities last weekend.
According to SNP MP Chris Law, speaking in the Commons during Prime Minister’s Questions, Ms El-Nakla made her “final goodbyes” in a call with the first minister and her daughter, Nadia, this morning.
The Dundee West MP said: “Members of her family were hit yesterday by a rocket from a drone, and Nadia’s mother was saying her final goodbyes this morning, adding, ‘last night was the end for me, better if my heart stops and then I will be at peace, I can’t take another night’.
“With military action intensifying and the death toll rapidly rising, the Prime Minister’s first responsibility must be to bring British citizens home.”
Mr Law asked the prime minister to give his assurances “every single step is being taken” to open the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Responding, the prime minister said: “Of course, the thoughts of everyone in this House will be with those families affected by what is happening in Israel and in Gaza, and I can give the honourable gentleman that assurance that we are doing everything in our power to ensure the safety of British nationals that are caught up in all of this, including my calls with leaders across the region, particularly around opening the Rafah border crossing.”
He added: “We continue to have dialogue both with the Israelis and the Egyptians about the Rafah crossing.”
Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Wednesday, the first minister said he had just spoken with his mother-in-law, who had told him they were safe.
“We are just torn apart with worry as you can imagine, because their supplies are low,” he said.
An Israeli missile struck a house across the road from where the El-Nakla family and 100 other people are staying, smashing all the windows and mirrors in the house on Tuesday.
It is understood that Mr Yousaf received a call about the attack 45 minutes after his speech to the SNP conference on Tuesday.
He added: “So, my mother-in-law told me she just didn’t sleep a wink last night with worry.”
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn also joined the first minister in calling for a ceasefire in the region, pressuring the Prime Minister on the issue and the creation of a refugee resettlement scheme in the UK.
“My ask for a ceasefire was done with all sincerity, sincerity to protect civilians, but also to ensure that we have the safe creation of humanitarian corridors – humanitarian corridors which will allow for food, for water and for vital medicines to get into Gaza, but also for innocent civilians caught up in this terrible conflict to flee,” Mr Flynn said.
Rishi Sunak did not address calls for a resettlement scheme, but did say the UK was “one of the most significant contributors to the United Nations’ efforts to support Palestinian refugees”.
He added: “With regard to humanitarian aid, as I said before we are already working through pre-emptively moving aid and relief teams into the region, but critically the most important thing is to open up access for that aid to get into Gaza, which is why our conversations with the Egyptians and others are so critical.”
Earlier on Wednesday, the first minister said an “honest broker” in the Middle East would be needed to resolve the “root cause” of hostilities.
“Frankly, if we look at this issue, stepping back from the current crisis, the only way we’re going to stop that perpetual cycle of violence that we see flare up year after year after year, is by addressing the root cause,” he said.
“The root cause continues to be that, while we have an Israeli state, that was a promise that was made, we don’t have the Palestinian state yet as per the 1967 borders.
“So that two-state solution that many of us have talked about for decades has just never materialised.
“Until there is a concerted effort, until – frankly – there is an honest broker that is able to help to broker that solution, we are going to unfortunately, I fear, see those perpetual cycles of violence continue for many years to come.”
I don’t know if Gaza will exist any more— Nadia El-Nakla
The first minister also pushed for an independent investigation of the explosion at the al Ahli Arab Hospital, which Hamas blamed on Israel but the Israeli government claimed was as a result of a rocket misfired by the group Islamic Jihad.
He described the explosion, which it is feared killed hundreds, was a “complete and utter human tragedy”.
Writing in the Guardian, Nadia El-Nakla told of her fears that Gaza “may not exist”, and Palestinian identity “could be lost forever” as her family in Gaza face trying to survive off salt water.
She recalled how as a child she would cry when it was time to go back to the UK due to the vibrancy and warmth of the Gazan community, and said Palestinian nationality has been “conflated with the idea that we’re barbaric”.
And she told how her optimism has diminished as no ceasefire has yet been declared and her fears that her eight-week-old nephew and 93-year-old grandmother could not survive the journey north.
Ms El-Nakla recalled how she was raised by her Palestinian father to believe that Jewish people were the “cousins” of Islam, rather than “this narrative that the current conflict is Muslims against Jews, or Palestinian families against Israeli families”.
Ms El-Nakla wrote: “My fear is that our identity could be lost for ever, that Palestinians are being eradicated from history, first under the blockade that has been going on for 17 years and now the bombardment. I don’t know if Gaza will exist any more.
“The future feels bleak, and I find it hard to think past the immediate safety of people living there now. At first I was optimistic that my parents would get out and aid would get in but sadly, slowly, my hope is waning.
“I’m trying to hold on to hope and trust in human beings to do what is right. And what is right is to give human beings what they need to survive, but also to follow international law.
“We have international law for a reason, and you can’t condemn one group for not following it and then allow another one to have complete disregard for it.
“Sometimes, world leaders can make it really complicated, but to me it feels simple: have a ceasefire, and allow the aid in and people out.”
