HUMZA Yousaf has said his family were given a “real fright” after a missile hit a house across the road from them in Gaza.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, the First Minister provided an update on his wife’s parents after they had travelled to Gaza to visit relatives.
It comes as an air strike hit a hospital in Gaza packed with wounded and other Palestinians seeking shelter.
The Israeli military has denied any involvement in the attack.
'A complete, utter human tragedy' Humza Yousaf, First Minister of Scotland, spoke to #BBCBreakfast about the explosion at a hospital in Gaza which has killed hundreds of peoplehttps://t.co/gHSFeV0v8G pic.twitter.com/HlBD5qxZj2
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) October 18, 2023
Yousaf said: “We are just torn apart with worry as you can imagine, because their supplies are low.
“Yesterday an Israeli missile hit a house across the road from my mother-in-law and father-in-law’s house and it shattered every window… broke all the mirrors and gave them a real fright.
“And so my mother-in-law told me she just didn’t sleep a wink last night with worry.”
He also spoke of the “sickening scenes” witnessed at the hospital blast, which he described as a “complete and utter human tragedy”.
He called for an independent investigation to find the perpetrator as hundreds are feared dead.
Hamas immediately claimed it had been caused by an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli Defence Force blamed a misfired Hamas rocket.
“I think everybody has a responsibility to condemn it and condemn it in the strongest possible way,” Yousaf said.
“It’s a complete breach of international law – the targeting of a hospital. There should be an independent investigation to find those who are responsible for it.”
Asked if he believed Rishi Sunak should go to Israel, Yousaf said: “What I would urge Rishi Sunak to do is everything in his power to demand a ceasefire, to demand that humanitarian corridors are opened up, to allow supplies in, to allow people out.
“And to condemn, without equivocation, the collective punishment of 2.2 million people.
“Every right-minded person unequivocally condemn the actions we saw a week past Saturday, the barbaric terror attacks from Hamas.
“It’s also right for all of us, the Prime Minister included, to be unequivocal in the condemnation of 2.2 million people being denied electricity, food, fuel supplies.
“That kind of collective punishment cannot be allowed and is only going to harm many, many innocent people who have nothing to do with the atrocities that were committed by Hamas.”
He added that an “honest broker” is needed to achieve peace and stressed the need for a ceasefire.
“Frankly, if we look at this issue, stepping back from the current crisis, the only way we’re going to stop that perpetual cycle of violence that we see flare up year after year, is by addressing the root cause.
“The root cause continues to be that, while we have an Israeli state, that was a promise that was made, we don’t have the Palestinian state yet as per the 1967 borders.
“So the two state solution that many of us have talked about for decades has just never materialised.
“Until there is a concerted effort, until – frankly – there is an honest broker that is able to help to broker that solution we are going to unfortunately, I fear, see those perpetual cycles of violence continue for many years to come.”
