​Ceasefire is only Gaza option - Angus Robertson

​All of us in Scotland will have read the news with great relief that the parents of Nadia El-Nakla and in-laws of First Minister Humza Yousaf, have been reunited with family in Scotland after being trapped in Gaza since the events of October 7.

Humza Yousaf's parents-in-law Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla, are home from Gaza

​Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla, along with 90 other British nationals, were permitted to pass through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt and return to the UK.

The nightmare of the past weeks is thankfully over, but Yousaf’s father-in-law Maged spoke of the heartbreak at the fact his son—a doctor in Gaza treating the injured—his grandchildren and his mother remain trapped there.

Humza said Maged broke down telling him ‘how hard it was saying goodbye to them. I’m sure all readers’ hearts go out to the Yousaf family for their relatives still in Gaza, as they will for the now 1.8 million displaced Palestinians.

We must all condemn the attacks of Hamas and the murder of 1400 people, and the antisemitism we have seen from some at home and abroad. It is utterly unacceptable.

But we cannot accept the collective punishment of innocent Palestinians in response.

A ceasefire is the only viable route to stop killing and work to get Israeli hostages back from Hamas’ captivity.

The First Minister has been among the first, along with the United Nations Secretary-General, to call for this ceasefire, and I echo these calls for the sake of saving innocent lives.