HUMZA Yousaf has revealed messages he has received from his brother-in-law, a doctor working in Gaza, whilst talking about the challenges his in-laws faced whilst there.
Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla, the parents of Yousaf’s wife Nadia, were in Gaza visiting relatives when the conflict erupted, and Yousaf regularly shared updates on his family’s situation – including that they had to drink sea water due to a lack of clean resources.
Yousaf and his wife said watching the was unfold whilst having family stuck in Gaza had been a “living nightmare” for the family.
On Sunday, Yousaf appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme and spoke about the challenges his in-laws faced while there.
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He said: “In all honesty, I did not think I would see them again as time went on. There was a particular call, which I’ll never forget as long as I live. My mother-in-law called around 1.30 in the morning, saying they’d been told their neighbour’s house was going to be targeted and therefore there’s no doubt the blast would hit them.
"And she began to say her goodbyes to me, and I’ll never forget that she told me to look after her girls.”
He also described some texts the family has been receiving from his brother-in-law, a doctor working in Gaza: “He says he’s never seen death and destruction like it. He told me he doesn’t know how he’s going to recover from it.
"He said one of his early jobs, when the conflict began, was to try to match body parts with the correct body. He’s in a terrible way.”
Yousaf’s brother-in-law has previously refused to leave his post as a doctor in Gaza because people “need me”.
In a message, Yousaf said his wife had implored her brother to go home and rest after working for seven consecutive days.
The First Minister wrote on Twitter/X: “My brother-in-law, a doctor in Gaza, is spending his seventh consecutive day in hospital.
“Nadia spoke to him & said he should go home to rest, his response: ‘I can’t leave my people when they need me’.
“Health workers in Gaza are heroes.”
It comes after Yousaf also told broadcasters last week his brother-in-law had been forced to decide who to treat due to a lack of medical supplies.
Asked how he expected a bilateral ceasefire to work, Yousaf said: “We know there are actors, take the Qatari government, who have helped to negotiate the release of hostages, they are playing a role in trying to bring up the release of hostages and peaceful resolution.
"Hamas is a terror organisation, that has committed the most abhorrent atrocity, and there’s going to have to be those who have influence over Hamas, they’re all going to have to work unbelievably hard to get a ceasefire, which is not a unilateral call, it’s a bilateral call.
“We don’t doubt this is going to be incredibly difficult. But when we have this level of destruction […] there has to be the international community not dancing on the head of a pin but actually internationally using all the diplomacy that we can bring to the table together to say: this has to
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