THE First Minister has said his family are still in “significant distress” over relatives that remain in Gaza despite his in-laws returning home to safety.
Elizabeth El-Nakla and her husband Maged were reunited with Humza Yousaf and his wife Nadia El-Nakla in Scotland at the weekend after they manged to cross in Egypt last Friday.
They had spent the previous two weeks in a house where 100 others were sheltering and endured harsh privations including running out of clean drinking water, reportedly forcing them to use seawater.
Speaking to media on Monday, Yousaf described their arrival as a “hugely emotional moment” but added his father had been left “broken” over having to leave behind his mum, son and grandchildren.
He said: “It was a hugely emotional moment. I’ll be honest I didn’t know if that reunion would happen. I didn’t know whether we’d see my in-laws again but I’m pleased we have and I’m pleased they are safe, but it’s bittersweet.
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“My father-in-law in particular, it was the first time I ever saw him cry. He was really broken by the fact he had to say goodbye to his mother, to his son, to their grandchildren, the youngest of which is three months old.
“So of course we’re happy and relieved to have my in-laws back, but it is bittersweet because we are still in significant distress given the family that is still there, and I think all of us are in distress at the scenes we’re seeing unfold in Gaza.”
Yousaf’s brother-in-law is a doctor in Palestine and has stayed in the strip, while Maged’s mother – whom the couple were visiting before war broke out – has also stayed in Gaza.
Yousaf has previously shared a video of his brother-in-law working at a hospital in Gaza and said he had been told Mohammed: “I can’t leave my people when they need me.”
The number of people killed in Gaza since Israel began bombing the territory has now reached 10,022, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
It comes after a night of intense Israeli strikes, with the Israeli military saying they hit hundreds of targets including a Hamas military compound.
The director of Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital says about 200 people were killed in strikes overnight.
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