Scottish First Minister’s mother-in-law ‘terrified’ as she is trapped in Gaza

Humza Yousaf’s mother-in-law who is trapped in Gaza has issued an emotional plea for the world to help Palestinians amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Elizabeth El-Nakla and her husband, Maged, travelled from Dundee to the Gaza Strip last week.

The Scottish first minister’s in-laws were visiting Maged’s ill 92-year-old mother and their son, Mohammad, who has an eight-week-old child.

Now the family are trapped within the Palestinian territory after Hamas, the militant group which governs Gaza, launched a surprise incursion Saturday.

In a tearful 40-second-long video to BBC News, Elizabeth said: ‘I am currently in Deir al-Balah with my husband’s family, my family, my grandchildren.’

Close to tears, she added: ‘We have no electricity. We have no water. The food we do have, which is little, will not last because there is no electricity and it will spoil.

Members of the Scottish leader’s in-laws are stuck in Gaza amid the conflict (Picture: PA)

Yousaf’s parents-in-law Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla visited Gaza last week (Picture: PA)

Nadia El-Nakla says she has struggled to sleep as her family remains trapped (Picture: BBC Scotland)

‘I have four grandchildren in this home – a two-month-old baby, a four-year-old and, today, two nine-year-old twins. Their birthday.

‘I ask the world to help the Palestinians.’

Nadia El-Nakla hasn’t slept since Monday as ‘every part of her body is shaking’.

Speaking in Bute House, the first minister’s official Edinburgh residence, she told the BBC: ‘They are just terrified, absolutely terrified, about what is to come and what is happening right now as we speak.’

At least 1,354 people have been killed in Palestine amid a wave of Israeli airstrikes with 6,049 wounded, Gazan health officials said on Facebook today.

The tiny coastal enclave is also struggling, health officials have said, under the suffocating 16-year-long blockage. Israeli ministers have prevented food, water, electricity and fuel from entering the region until the some 150 people abducted by Hamas militants are freed.

Gaza has for days been pounded by airstrikes in retaliation to Hamas militants tearing through southern Israel (Picture: Sameh Rahmi/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)

Gaza has been under a 16-year-old blockage which deeply limits what can enter and leave the territory (Picture: ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock)

At least 1,300 Israelis have been killed since the violence erupted Saturday morning (Picture: AFP)

Held in place by Israel and Egypt, the blockade prevents most people from leaving and heavily restricts imports, such as electronic equipment.

Of the more than two million people – nearly half of which are under-18 – living in the territory, at least 200,000 have been displaced, the UN has estimated.

Many are sheltering in schools run by the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA.

Israel’s national army, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), says Hamas militants have killed at least 1,300 people.

In a letter to British foreign secretary James Cleverly on Tuesday, Yousaf called on officials to carve out a humanitarian corridor to let people cross the border to Egypt.

Egypt has, however, refused to do this.

Leaving Palestine is tricky for the El-Nakla family as not all have British passports, meaning some would be left behind, the BBC reported.

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‘I ask the world to help the Palestinians.’