HUMZA Yousaf says he has not heard from his in-laws trapped in Gaza after the conflict’s heaviest night of bombing.
The First Minister says he has not been able to contact his mother-in-law and her husband after communications were cut off during hours of intense Israeli attacks.
Mr Yousaf revealed he has not heard from his in-laws after the heaviest night of fighting in Gaza
Israeli forces have destroyed 150 Hamas basesReuters
His wife’s doctor brother has refused to abandon his post tending to the dying and wounded.
Mr Yousaf revealed their plight on X, formerly known as Twitter.
He said: “Gaza is under intense bombing.
“Telecommunications have been cut.
“We can’t get through to our family who have been trapped in this war zone for almost 3 weeks.
“I’m afraid we have not heard from my in-laws.
“My concern is for all the innocent people suffering for a crime they did not commit.
“If you did not vote for peace, while children are dying, then I do not know how you sleep at night.”
Israel Defence Forces yesterday claimed the heaviest aerial bombardment of the war so far saw around 100 jets strike 150 underground Hamas targets in the strip.
Airstrikes are said to have taken out a network of tunnels used to hide and hideouts used by Hamas.
The state’s armoured vehicles and infantry clashed with fighters at clash points around the region home to 2.3 million people.
Palestinian reports are limited after internet services were shut down, but the heaviest skirmishes are believed to have taken place in Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, with further battles in Burej and Khan Younis.
Mr Yousaf previously revealed SNP councillor wife Nadia’s parents Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla arrived in the country the week before the conflict began.
They were visiting his father-in-law’s mum, 92, with their son also living in Gaza with his four children, including a two-month-old baby.
The medic has pledged to continue working.
The World Health Organisation revealed explosions over the weekend at treatment centres across the region.
A spokesman said: “Reports of bombardment near the Indonesia and Al Shifa hospitals are gravely concerning.
“The WHO reiterates that it is impossible to evacuate patients without endangering their lives.
“Hospitals across Gaza are already operating at maximum capacity due to the injuries sustained in weeks of unrelenting bombardment, and are unable to absorb a dramatic rise in the number of patients, while sheltering thousands of civilians.
“Health workers who have stayed by their patients’ sides face dwindling supplies, with no place to put new patients, and no means to alleviate their patients’ pain.
“There are more wounded every hour.
“But ambulances cannot reach them in the communications blackout.
“Morgues are full.
“More than half of the dead are women and children.”
Mr Yousaf has written to every political leader in the UK to urge them to back a Gaza ceasefire.
In a letter, understood to have been sent on Thursday, he said Israel has a right to defend itself following terror attacks but that fighting must stop to halt the “staggering humanitarian disaster” before it becomes “cataclysmic”.
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