SNP councillor Nadia El-Nakla is pleading for world leaders to seek peace in Gaza as she shared her fears for the survival of her niece and nephews.
In an emotional speech on day one of the SNP conference in Aberdeen, Ms El-Nakla, who is married to Humza Yousaf, said “every person in Gaza is waiting to die”.
The councillor’s parents Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla – who are British citizens and live in Dundee – were in Gaza to visit Ms El-Nakla’s 93-year-old grandmother.
But the pair became trapped after violence erupted when Hamas militants launched attacks on Israel earlier this week.
The country has responded with force, launching a bombing campaign and vowing a “total blockade” of the Gaza strip which has included cutting of its fresh water supply.
Ms El-Nakla’s brother, niece, three nephews, and wider family members live in Gaza.
The SNP councillor told conference she started the week “extremely fearful” and was ending it in “complete despair”.
And she also took aim at the UK Government stating that “instead of sending spy planes, the UK should be sending supplies”.
‘Families saying goodbye’
Giving an update, the Dundee councillor said Gazans are facing “unimaginable horror” and revealed her family have started to say their goodbyes to one another.
Her brother, who works as an emergency room doctor, has not been home from hospital in four days because it is “overrun”.
Ms El-Nakla said he is starting to say he can no longer treat anyone because there are “no supplies” and the dead are “arriving in mere body parts”.
And his colleague, a nurse from another department, found both of his own children dead, while her cousin lost three of his friends.
“Families like mine are having to move and they are having to say goodbye to each other as if it’s the last time”, Ms El-Nakla told conference.
“My aunt said goodbye to her daughter Sara and her granddaughter who was going to a different part of Gaza. And they said goodbye like it was the last time.
“My dad yesterday when we hoped he would leave said goodbye to my grandmother for what we thought was the last time.”
She concluded her speech by pleading for the survival of her niece Layla, nephews Majid and Amjid and eight-week old baby nephew, Amir.
Ms El-Nakla added: “Let them survive. This can only happen when the world leaders use diplomacy instead of weaponising and strive for peace over war. This can stop if those in power want it to.”
The SNP conference agreed an emergency motion calling for civilians to be allowed to evacuate through an open border, without the risk of being caught in a military attack.
Mr Yousaf is pushing the UK Government to be “unequivocal” with the Israeli government about the need for a humanitarian corridor.
Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he said: “The UK Government is a trusted ally of Israel, they should use that trusted position to be explicit, unequivocal, and say a humanitarian corridor to allow supplies to come in and to allow people to leave, must open.”
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly stressed British backing for Israel on Sunday but urged the country’s leaders to show restraint as concerns mount about the fate of civilians in Gaza ahead of an imminent offensive.
He told the BBC: “The point is the clear difference from statements coming from Israel, saying that they respect and will abide by international humanitarian law, and Hamas on the other hand, who are specifically targeting civilians.”
The SNP meets for the autumn conference from Sunday until Tuesday at the P&J Live arena in Aberdeen.
Read our full coverage of the conference on our politics pages, here.
Listen to our SNP conference preview interview with SNP MP Pete Wishart on our politics podcast, The Stooshie, here.
