From Gaza, Scottish first minister's mum-in-law says sending 'last video'

Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf posted a video online Friday showing his mother-in-law in Gaza tearfully deploring Israel's order to evacuate more than one million people from the north of the Palestinian enclave.

"This will be my last video," Elizabeth al-Nakla, a former nurse, said in the recording shared by the Scottish leader on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Nakla said people from Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip were moving southward after Israel gave Palestinians 24 hours to leave the besieged enclave's largest city ahead of an expected ground offensive in retaliation against Hamas for the deadliest attack in Israeli history.

Israel is threatening to carry out what many fear will be a "Second Nakba" for Palestinians, and the world is letting it happen.

Earlier today, the Israeli army ordered residents of the north of the Gaza Strip to evacuate, amid reports that they will not be allowed to return 👇 pic.twitter.com/XNEaCdefX8

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) October 13, 2023

"One million people - no food, no water, and still they are bombing them as they leave. Where are we going to put them?" Nakla said.

"But my [first] thought is, all these people in the hospital cannot be evacuated.

"Where's humanity? Where's people's hearts in the world to let this happen in this day and age," she said, unable to hold back tears.

"May God help us. Goodbye."

The United Nations said it had been informed of Israel's evacuation order shortly before midnight Thursday, six days after hundreds of Hamas fighters through the militarised barrier around the overcrowded Gaza Strip by land, sea and air, killing more than 1,300 people in Israel.

However Israel's military did not confirm the UN report that it had set a 24-hour deadline, admitting Friday it would take time for Palestinians to follow its orders to evacuate northern Gaza.

The UN said the mass relocation, affecting 1.1 million, or about half the entire population of the Gaza Strip, to the territory's south was "impossible" and urgently appealed for the order to be rescinded.

In response to Hamas's weekend attack, Israel declared war on Hamas on Sunday and has since fired thousands of munitions at targets in Gaza, flattening entire neighbourhoods and sending residents fleeing for safety.

UN humanitarian agency OCHA, citing Palestinian authorities, said more than 2,500 homes have been destroyed or made uninhabitable by the bombing. 1,799 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's bombardment of the Gaza strip, with 6,388 more wounded.

Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday ordered a "complete siege" of Gaza, meaning "no electricity, no food, no water, no gas."

The United Nations criticised that as a possible violation of international law.