LONDON: The Scottish government on Tuesday called on all sides involved in the war between Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire so that emergency aid supplies can enter Gaza and safe passage can be guaranteed for all who want to leave the besieged territory.
In an address to the Scottish Parliament, the country’s leader, First Minister Humza Yousaf, said: “Premature babies, injured infants, pregnant women and all the people who have lost their homes overnight in Gaza have little in the way of access to clean water. They cannot make bread. Many are in desperate need of sufficient medical treatment for horrendous injuries and have virtually no access to life-saving medicine.
“The aid, the trickle of aid, arriving in Gaza must be significantly increased without delay … and must include fuel. Otherwise, hospitals will simply shut down, the sick the injured, premature babies, they will die. And if that happens, that will be a stain on all of our collective consciousness. And it’s one that we should not be forgiven for.”
The Scottish government has already pledged £500,000 in funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East for humanitarian aid to help displaced people in Gaza, Yousaf added.
He urged the UK government to start work on creating a refugee resettlement scheme, and draw up plans for the medical evacuation of injured civilians from Gaza.
“As I’ve said before, Scotland is willing to play a hard part to be the first country in the UK to offer safe sanctuary to vulnerable people caught up in this war,” Yousaf said. “Scotland is ready to treat the injured men, women and children of Gaza in our hospitals where we can.
“In the past, the people of Scotland, and indeed across the UK, have opened our hearts, our homes and welcomed those from Syria, Ukraine and many other countries. We are a generous nation. Let us show that generosity of spirit and heart once again.”
The first minister said he was greatly concerned by the plight of British citizens captured by Hamas when the group attacked a music festival in Israel on Oct. 7 and held as hostages since then.
“I reiterate our call for them to be released,” he said. “I’m also deeply distressed thinking of Scots who are trapped in Gaza, British citizens, including children and the elderly, who have called Scotland their home for decades and are trapped within the Gaza Strip, waiting to cross safely into Egypt.”
He “unequivocally condemned” the attack on Israel saying: “The more we learn about Hamas’ barbaric attack, which took place on the Jewish Sabbath, on a Jewish holy day, the more we are sickened by their brutality. The Scottish government unequivocally condemns the abhorrent terrorist attacks of Hamas.”
Yousaf referred to a verse of the Qur’an that states if you kill one innocent person it is as though you’ve killed the whole of humanity, and added that “there can be no religious or moral defense of the killing of innocent civilians.”
The overwhelming majority of men, women and children in Gaza have nothing to do with Hamas and must not be punished for Hamas’ crimes, he said, and although Israel has a right to defend itself, it must always respect international law when doing so.
“Almost 60 percent of Gazans are under the age of 25,” he added. “Almost half of the population of Gaza are children. Cutting off electricity, food, water, fuel supplies to the people of Gaza is collective punishment that must be condemned in the strongest possible manner.”
Yousaf also spoke about the anxiety and fear that he and his wife, Nadia El-Nakla, feel each day while her parents remain trapped in Gaza. They traveled to the territory from their home in the Scottish city of Dundee to visit family shortly before the hostilities began and are stuck there, unable to leave.
“Every night, Nadia and I go to bed, barely sleeping as we count down the hours until the morning, waiting anxiously for a message from my mother-in-law to tell us that they have survived the night,” he said.
“Throughout the day, the 100 people who are in our family home must ration their food. The adults barely eat — my mother-in-law only ate cashew nuts yesterday — they ration so the children in the house don’t end up malnourished.
“But time is running out. I spoke to my mother-in-law this morning. She feels helpless, that she has lost hope. She tells me she feels as if the UK government has forgotten about her. And please don’t interpret my point as a political one, it’s not. She is a UK citizen, yet the only communication that she receives from the Foreign Office is a text message telling her what she already knows, that the Rafah crossing is closed.”
He also warned of the need to ensure that the conflict does not cause tensions to rise between communities in Scotland and elsewhere, adding: “There has to be, there must be, zero tolerance for antisemitism, Islamophobia, and sectarian violence anywhere.”
