Humza Yousaf’s mother-in-law said “her goodbyes” in a panicked call to the First Minister and his wife early on Sunday morning following a false alarm, he has said.

Elizabeth El-Nakla, from Dundee, is in Gaza after visiting family with her husband, Maged.

Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg from the SNP conference in Aberdeen, the First Minister said: “Last night was a very difficult night, if I’m honest.

Elizabeth El-Nakla, the mother-in-law of First Minister Humza Yousaf, is trapped in Gaza.

“We got a call at one in the morning from my mother in law in a panic.”

Someone in the neighbourhood where they live, he said, had been told to evacuate their home because it was due to be hit, leaving neighbours “running to goodness and God knows where”.

“You can imagine the panic, and my mother-in-law was even saying her goodbyes, which was pretty hard to hear.”

The alert, however, was a “false alarm”, the First Minister said.

On Friday, Mrs El-Nakla asked “where is humanity?”, as she described conditions in the Palestinian territory under Israeli bombardment.

In a video posted as online from a settlement in the centre of the Gaza Strip, Mrs El-Nakla pleaded for help, saying: “Where’s people’s hearts in the world, to let this happen in this day and age?”

Mrs El-Nakla is the mother of Mr Yousaf’s wife, Nadia.

Mr Yousaf earlier shared the video because he felt "powerless and helpless," he said.

"The only thing I can do is share their story," he added.

He also said the action by Israel had “gone too far” by inflicting “collective punishment” on Gaza in its response to the atrocities by Hamas

Today, Mr Yousaf backed a programme that would allow Palestinians and Israelis to flee to the UK.

Asked about such a move, Humza Yousaf said he “absolutely” supports it.

He added: “There’s many people who are worried about their relatives – Jewish, Muslim, Christian, atheist, agnostic – whether it’s those that are captured by Hamas or whether it’s those like my own family in Gaza.”

He went on to reiterate his calls for the opening of a humanitarian corridor to allow supplies to reach civilians in Gaza, as well as calling on the international community to deal with the “root cause” of the hostilities in the region.

“We have to, of course, bring people to the UK if we are able to, but also, if we want to stop this perpetual cycle of violence… then we also have to say unequivocally, and there should be no controversy about this statement, that an Israeli life and a Palestinian life are equal.

“We have to make sure that we never lose sight of that.”

Humza Yousaf’s mother-in-law said “her goodbyes” in a panicked call following a false alarm