In a heart-wrenching speech at the SNP conference in Aberdeen, Nadia El-Nakla, wife of Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf, accused Israel of terrorising Gaza, painting a grim picture of the situation faced by her relatives and countless others in the region.
Emotionally charged, she revealed the devastating impact of the Israeli offensive on the civilian population.
The situation had become so dire that ice cream trucks were being repurposed to store the bodies of the dead. Her brother, a doctor, could no longer tend to the injured due to the depletion of medical supplies.
El-Nakla’s parents, Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla, found themselves trapped in Gaza after a Hamas attack, unable to return to their Dundee home.
Her brother, residing in Gaza with his four children, including a two-month-old baby, faced the horrors of a city under siege. According to the SNP Councillor, the once-vibrant city was now being obliterated in ways previously unimaginable.
Ms El-Nakla told how she “started this week extremely fearful” and is now “ending this week in complete despair”.
She said: “I’ve seen many wars in Gaza as I grew up, but nothing like this.”
She told the conference how people are now sleeping on football pitches near her family’s home, but added: “They still are dropping bombs on them. Morgues are full, we’re using ice cream trucks for the dead.”
The emotional plea came during controversy at the conference when speakers scheduled for a pro-Palestine event were uninvited after a disclosure by The Telegraph that one of them had expressed satisfaction over the Hamas attack.
In response, conference delegates unanimously passed an emergency motion urging the UK Government to support UN demands for a humanitarian corridor, allowing people to leave Gaza and aid to reach the region.
In her address, El-Nakla extended her condolences to Israeli families mourning the loss of their loved ones due to the Hamas attack. However, she vehemently criticised the Israeli government’s response, describing the scenes in Gaza as an “unimaginable horror”.
With desperation in her voice, she expressed her fears that the military onslaught, combined with door-to-door killings and starvation, could result in the deaths of more than two million people in Gaza. She also voiced concerns that Gaza, as they knew it, might cease to exist.
El-Nakla passionately called on the UK Government to intensify its efforts, emphasising the need for humanitarian aid rather than surveillance.
“Instead of sending spy planes, the UK should be sending supplies,” she told the conference. “We are not watching a natural disaster, this can be stopped. This can only happen when the world leaders use diplomacy instead of weaponising and strive for peace over war.”
