https://arab.news/6sp85
- Elizabeth El-Nakla trapped in Gaza with family including 93-year-old grandmother, 2-month-old baby
- asks UK Foreign Minister James Cleverly to convince Israel to open humanitarian corridors
LONDON: The mother-in-law of Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf has called for support from the international community for the Palestinian people.
Elizabeth El-Nakla made the plea in a video from Gaza, where she is currently stuck with her husband Maged.
The pair traveled to Gaza last week to visit Maged’s 93-year-old mother before fighting broke out between Hamas and Israel.
They are now unable to leave, along with six other family members including a 2-month-old baby.
“I’m currently in Deir Al-Balah with my husband’s family, my family, my grandchildren,” she said in the emotional video. “We have no electricity. We have no water. The food we do have, which is little, won’t last because there’s no electricity and it will spoil.
“I have four grandchildren in this home: a 2-month-old baby, a 4-year-old and, today, two 9-year-old twins. (It’s) their birthday. I ask the world to help the Palestinians.”
Yousaf previously told the BBC that he feared for his relatives’ safety, saying they were fast running out of supplies.
On Tuesday, he wrote to UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who is currently in Israel, to convince the Israeli government to open humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to leave Gaza.
His wife Nadia El-Nakla told the BBC that her family in Gaza are “just terrified, absolutely terrified, about what is to come and what is happening right now as we speak.”
Yousaf is not the only senior British political leader to be personally linked to the crisis. Labour leader Keir Starmer revealed his “deep concern” this week for his wife Victoria’s family, who live in Israel.
“We have extended family in Israel and this will be typical of many people in Israel, families, communities, they have a deep sense of shock at what is happening,” he told LBC.