Humza Yousaf says Israel is 'going too far' in Gaza

Scotland's first minister has said Israel is "going too far" and that innocent civilians in Gaza can not simply be "collateral damage".

Humza Yousaf had earlier shared a video of his mother-in-law, Elizabeth El-Nakla, describing the situation on the ground.

She issued an emotional plea for help after Israel warned more than a million people to flee north Gaza.

Mr Yousaf said she was in a "real state of distress".

He said it was "really difficult" to watch the video, and spoke of his sense of "helplessness and distress".

Mr Yousaf added that it was important to share the video so people could see that his mother-in-law, like ordinary citizens of Gaza, had nothing to do with Hamas.

Calling on the international community to "step up", he said there needed to be a ceasefire and a humanitarian corridor to allow supplies and to allow people out.

"There is a humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding and the collective punishment of 2.2 million Gazans just can not be justified," he said.

Mr Yousaf stressed he had "entire and absolute sympathy" with the men, women and children who lost their lives in Israel.

At least 1,300 people were killed when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on 7 October.

The victims included grandfather Bernard Cowan, who grew up in the Glasgow area before moving to live in Israel.

On Thursday, Mr Yousaf comforted Mr Cowan's mother when they both attended a service of solidarity at Giffnock Newton Mearns Synagogue in East Renfrewshire.

The UN said Israel was telling everyone to relocate to the south of Gaza in the next 24 hours, a move it warned would have "devastating humanitarian consequences".

Palestinian health officials say 1,400 people have died in Israeli retaliatory airstrikes in Gaza as the death toll continues to rise in the conflict.

Earlier this week Mr Yousaf's wife, Nadia El-Nakla, told BBC News her family were "terrified" and some of her relatives' homes have already been destroyed.

Elizabeth El-Nakla and her husband, Maged, had travelled to the south of the Palestinian enclave last week to see a sick relative.

The couple, from Dundee, are now trapped in a war zone with no way out.

On Friday, Mr Yousaf shared a moving 40-second video from his mother-in-law on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Looking directly into the camera Ms El-Nakla said: "This will be my last video.

"Everybody from Gaza is moving towards where we are. One million people. No food. No water.

"And still they are bombing them as they leave. Where are we going to put them?"

The grandmother became tearful as she continued: "But my thought is all these people in the hospital cannot be evacuated. Where's humanity? Where's people's hearts in the world to let this happen in this day and age?

"May God help us. Bye."

Mr and Mrs El-Nakla are in Gaza visiting their son - a father-of-four - and Mr El-Nakla's 92-year-old mother, who is ill.

Asked how his family were coping, Mr Yousaf said: "There is a sense of helplessness and distress and every day that goes on you fear the situation.

"I just had a message from my mother-in-law, all of 15 minutes ago, to say that there is now bombing in their neighbourhood."

The first minister added that with every passing day the family's meagre rations diminish and they will be placed under further strain when relatives flee the north of Gaza to join them.

Mr Yousaf said: "That house of 10 could potentially have 40 people in it by the end of this day with just a few plastic bottles of clean drinking water and rationing of supplies.

"So it is a human catastrophe and the international community really needs to step up."

All movement into and out of Gaza is controlled by the Israeli authorities, except the pedestrian-only Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt's Sinai peninsula, which is controlled by the Egyptian authorities.

This has come under bombardment from Israel in recent days and, according to the BBC's Egypt correspondent Sally Nabil, Egyptians are concerned about being dragged into the conflict.