The former first minister of Scotland has said Israel is starving his wife’s family in Gaza.
Humza Yousaf and his wife Nadia El-Nakla said her cousin Sally, her four children and husband were being deliberately and forcefully starved by the Israeli government.
Ms El-Nakla, an SNP councillor in Dundee, said her aunt Hanan, her children and grandchildren, including a seven-month-old baby, were also being starved.
She said the town of Deir Al Balah, where her family live, was “hit hard” by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).
“Starving people were being forced to run while being shot and bombed,” she said in a video alongside her husband on social media.
Nadia's cousin Sally, and her four children are being starved by Israel.
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) July 23, 2025
Millions in Gaza are being deliberately starved while Israel withholds food mere kilometres away.
Words are not enough. Governments must act and force Israel to open the borders and allow aid to flow in. pic.twitter.com/MqaabT5sQQ
Mr Yousaf said children in Gaza were being “starved, displaced, bombed, all while the world watches”.
The former SNP leader said: “Sally is one of millions in Gaza.
“Her husband goes out all day searching for food, often to come home with nothing.
“And when I say home, I mean a tent and almost 40 degree heat.”
He said that doctors in Gaza were becoming “too weak to treat patients” while journalists were becoming “too weak to report the silent killer of starvation”.
“This is a deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people,” Ms El-Nakla added.
“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.
“Can you imagine not being able to feed your children yet knowing the food you so desperately need is only a few miles away?”
She went on: “Sally’s life matters, Palestinian lives matter, and I am begging those who have the power to open the borders to do so now and let the people of Gaza live.”
Mr Yousaf urged world leaders to take action to force Israel to allow more aid into Gaza.
He said: “Fathers like me, parents like us, children like ours, being starved, displaced, bombed, all while the world watches.
“Governments might stay silent, they may refuse to act, but we won’t.”
Writing on X, he added: “Words are not enough. Governments must act and force Israel to open the borders and allow aid to flow in.”
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.
The health ministry said 10 people have died from malnutrition in the last 24 hours.
The UK was among 28 nations that accused Israel of the “drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians” seeking food and water.
The Palestinian health ministry said earlier this week that 100 Palestinians had been killed by the IDF while waiting for food over the weekend.
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.
Mr Yousaf previously described the situation in Gaza as “hell on Earth”.
Ms El-Nakla’s parents, Maged and Elizabeth El-Nakla, had been trapped in the enclave for four weeks after visiting family when the war broke out after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.
They later left through Egypt with other British nationals, although Mr Yousaf said his father-in-law had become a “shell of a man” following their “traumatic” month in Gaza.
The UK Government and the Israeli embassy in London have been approached for comment.
