Israeli diplomat considers possibility of foreign hospital ships for wounded in Gaza

LONDON: Scottish Prime Minister Humza Yousaf has confirmed that his in-laws managed to leave Gaza and enter Egypt through the Rafah crossing.
Elizabeth and Maged Al-Nakla, the parents of Yousaf’s wife Nadia, found themselves stranded in the Palestinian territory after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
They were there to visit relatives when Israel declared war on Hamas, according to Israeli officials. Since then, Israel has relentlessly bombed Palestinian territory and sent ground troops.
“We are very happy to confirm that Nadia’s parents were able to leave Gaza this morning through the Rafah crossing,” Yousaf said in a statement.

The last four weeks have been a nightmare for our family.

Humza YousafFirst Minister of Scotland

“The last four weeks have been a nightmare for our family. We are very grateful for all the messages of comfort and prayers we have received from around the world, and indeed from across the political spectrum in Scotland and the UK,” Yousaf said.
Yousaf said other members of his family, including his brother-in-law, an emergency doctor in Gaza, and his wife’s grandmother and mother-in-law, remained in the territory.
Al-Nakla is a retired nurse from Dundee who struggled to stay in touch with her daughter during the conflict, with frequent loss of communication channels.
The couple shared a home in Deir Al-Balah – south of the Gaza River, the line beyond which the Israeli Defense Forces ordered Palestinians to move away – with dozens of members of their extended family.
Earlier this week, Yousaf said the family had run out of fresh water and had been drinking water from the sea.
Yousaf posted a video online in early October showing his mother-in-law in Gaza tearfully lamenting Israel’s order to evacuate more than a million people from the north of the Palestinian enclave.
“This will be my last video,” Elizabeth Al-Nakla, a British citizen, said in the recording shared by the Scottish leader on X, formerly Twitter.
Al-Nakla said in the video that residents of Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip were heading south after Israel gave Palestinians 24 hours to leave the largest city in the Gaza Strip. besieged enclave.