HUMZA Yousaf’s mother-in-law has had to remove shrapnel from her two-year-old nephew after family members were hit by a drone in Gaza.
Nadia El-Nakla - Mr Yousaf’s wife - revealed her aunt, uncle and their children narrowly avoided a much more serious consequence after the weapon “hit off a metal fire extinguisher”.
Speaking today, Ms El-Nakla said just minutes before she went live on the LBC radio station that her mother - Elizabeth - had called with to update her as the family remained trapped due to the escalating violence.
Ms El-Nakla said: “Two minutes before this call my mother just called me and my aunt and uncle and their three children, the youngest two, were just sitting outside their home and got hit by a drone.
“Thankfully the drone hit off a metal fire extinguisher and now my two-year-old cousin is covered in shrapnel.”
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She said that her mother was “crying” during the call and “removing shrapnel” which was “deep in their skin” from the youngster’s body.
Ms El-Nakla claimed that there was “absolutely no way for that kind of treatment” in a hospital at the moment, and her mother as a former nurse was helping.
She said that due to people in the north of Gaza fleeing south, there had been around 100 people in her family home.
Ms El-Nakla said she had not been able to visit Gaza for around 16 years - but she had managed to travel this month to see her grandmother for what she thought would be the “last time I got to see her” because she is unwell.
Her parents, Elizabeth and Maged, are trapped in Gaza with their son, grandchildren and Mr El-Nakla’s 92-year-old mother.
They travelled to the area last week - before Hamas’s horrific terrorist attack in Israel - to visit the elderly relative.
Asked what she wants to see happen, she said: “I want to see an urgent ceasefire, I want to see humanitarian aid going into Gaza and I want to see foreign nationals out. I want to see our governments having discussions about long lasting peace.”
But, Ms El-Nakla said she was “not in any way” reassured by diplomatic efforts to end the violence.
She said: “I felt that I heard very little about peace. We don’t have time, hospitals are running out of fuel as we speak, mass numbers of people are dying. We don’t have time for a slow approach to humanitarian aid.”
Opening his first conference speech as SNP leader, Humza Yousaf has called on the international community to create a refugee programme for people fleeing Gaza, with Scotland willing to be the first to take people in.
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Speaking from the P&J Live Arena in Glasgow, the First Minister said: "In the past, people in Scotland and across the UK have opened our hearts and our homes and welcomed those from Syria, Ukraine and many other countries. We must do so again.
"There are currently around one million people displaced within the Gaza strip - I am therefore today calling on the international community to commit to a worldwide refugee programme for the people of Gaza."
He went on to call on the UK Government to create a refugee resettlement programme, with Scotland willing to be the first to take people in, along with urging them to support the medical evacuation of civilians in Gaza.
The First Minister also thanked members for support as his wife's family are stuck in Gaza.
"I have never felt the love, kindness and solidarity of the SNP family as much as I have over the last 10 days," he said.
"So on my behalf, and on behalf of Nadia, my girls and our family in Gaza, from the bottom of my heart, let me say thank you."
He added: "Here at home, to Scotland's Jewish, Muslim and Palestinian communities, you are communities that I love, and I want you to know as First Minister and as a fellow human being, I share the pain and I share the sorrow you are feeling.
"I have attended your synagogues, your churches, your mosques. Your communities I have grown up with, danced with, laughed with, and in this last week, that I have shed many a tear with.
"Each and every person in Scotland, from all of the vibrant communities of our nation must feel safe here.
"And as long as I am First Minister let me be abundantly clear, there is no room for antisemitism, Islamophobia or hatred of any kind here in Scotland."
Humza Yousaf then called on the international community to set up a refugee programme for those fleeing the Gaza Strip.
The First Minister said Scotland would offer sanctuary to people who arrived in the UK as refugees.
He told the SNP conference: "There are currently around one million people displaced within the Gaza Strip - I am therefore today calling on the international community to commit to a worldwide refugee programme for the people of Gaza.
"I am calling on the UK Government to take two urgent steps.
"Firstly, they should immediately begin work on the creation of a refugee resettlement scheme for those in Gaza who want to, and are able to, leave.
"And when they do so, Scotland is willing to be the first country in the UK to offer safety and sanctuary to those caught up in these terrible attacks."
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