Former first minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf says Israel is starving wife's family in Gaza

Former first minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf has said Israel is starving his wife’s family in Gaza.

In a video the couple shared on Instagram, they said Nadia El-Nakla’s cousin, her husband and their children are being “starved” while food and aid are “mere kilometres away”.

“My cousin Sally and her four children are starving,” El-Nakla, an SNP councillor in Dundee, said.

“My aunt Hanan, her children and grandchildren, including a seven-month-old baby, are being starved.”

“Yesterday my family’s town Deir al-Balah was hit hard and starving people were being forced to run while being shot and bombed.”

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has begun a ground operation targeting Deir al-Balah, the main hub for humanitarian efforts in Gaza.

On Monday, the UK and 24 other nations including France, Canada and Australia urged Israel to lift restrictions on the flow of aid into Gaza.

They condemned the current aid delivery model, backed by the Israeli and American governments, which has reportedly resulted in IDF troops firing on Palestinian civilians in search of food on multiple occasions.

“This is a deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people,” El-Nakla said.

“Food and water are a mere kilometres away. This form of warfare is sickening, and the stories and images from my family and millions of others in Gaza are absolutely gut-wrenching.”

Yousaf said: “Governments might stay silent, they may refuse to act, but we won’t.”

The former first minister appeared beside his wife in the video and said Sally and her family are “one of millions” starving in Gaza.

“Her husband goes out all day searching for food, often coming home with nothing. When I say home, I mean a tent in almost 40-degree heat,” Yousaf said.

In Gaza, Yousaf said doctors are becoming “too weak to treat patients”, and journalists “too weak” to report their starvation.

“For the sake of humanity, find your conscience and open the borders, and do it now.”

More than 100 aid agencies have warned that “mass starvation” is spreading across Gaza as Israel is accused of not allowing enough food, and other supplies, into the area.

Desperation is mounting in the Palestinian territory of more than two million, which experts say is at risk of famine because of Israel’s blockade and nearly two-year offensive.

Israel said on Tuesday that 950 lorries worth of aid were waiting in Gaza for international organisations to distribute.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Hamas, the proscribed terrorist group which controls Gaza, of stealing the food for itself.