Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf said on Monday that the return of his parents-in-law from Gaza was “bittersweet”, following their four-week ordeal under siege in the Palestinian territory.

Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla, the parents of Yousaf’s wife Nadia, became trapped in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, and only managed to leave and enter Egypt through the Rafah crossing last Friday.

“They are of course delighted that they are here but they are heartbroken that they had to leave family behind in Gaza,” the leader of the devolved government in Edinburgh told BBC Scotland.

He told reporters that his father-in-law had been forced to say numerous painful goodbyes when he left the territory last week.

“He was really broken by the fact that he had to say goodbye to his mother, to his son, to their grandchildren, as well — the youngest of which is only three months old,” Yousaf said.

His in-laws, who live in Dundee, northeast Scotland, were visiting relatives in Gaza when Israel declared war on Hamas after its gunmen killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.

Since then, Israel has relentlessly bombarded the Palestinian territory and sent in ground troops, with the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza saying more than 10,000 people have been killed, most of them women and children.

Yousaf, who in March became the first Muslim leader of a government in western Europe, had grown increasingly vocal over recent weeks about the desperate plight of his in-laws and others in Gaza.

On Monday, he said the situation they faced had been “incredibly desperate” and they had been forced to drink sea water after running out of supplies.

“We continue to watch the situation in Israel-Gaza with a lot of distress,” the Scottish National Party (SNP) leader added, reiterating his call for an immediate ceasefire.

“This is a pivotal moment, frankly, for the international community,” he said.

“You are either on the side of humanity calling for an immediate ceasefire or you are enabling the suffering of 2.2 million men, women and children, the vast majority of whom are innocent,” the leader added.

The ruling Conservative government in the UK and the main Labour opposition have not joined calls for a ceasefire, arguing it would benefit Hamas, and instead called for “humanitarian pauses”.

Expressing dismay over the ‘thief’ slur levelled at her Trinamool Congress party by the opposition, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said she had not accepted a single paisa nor taken even a cup of tea from anyone.

The erstwhile Left Front government was corrupt as one crore fake ration cards were detected after the TMC came to power defeating the coalition in 2011 and those were later scrapped, she said while addressing a programme in her Bhawanipore assembly constituency.

Her comments came amid the hullabaloo over the arrest of senior minister Jyoti Priya Mallick by the ED last month in connection with its probe into ration supply scam. Several other party leaders were also arrested by central agencies for their alleged involvement in corruption cases. Opposition BJP has been describing the TMC regime and the party leaders as “thieves”.

“There might have been problems by certain individuals, but we made great efforts in cleaning up the system for seven-eight years. Have we taken one cup of tea with other’s money? I did not take one single paisa. I do not take the Rs 1.25 lakh monthly pension (as an MP),” she said.

Claiming that the TMC government’s move to scrap the fake ration cards led to zero starvation deaths during the Covid pandemic, Ms Banerjee said people should compare the hunger allegedly suffered by the population at Jangalmahal region in the southern part of the state during the rule of the CPI(M)-led Left Front.

“I was stunned to discover that people eat ants at Birpahari when I went there as an opposition MP,” the TMC supremo said.

Ms Banerjee also asked people not to allow those “who never spare a chance to speak ill against me” to go near her when she dies.

She said that as her government is pro-people, those who had given farmland at Singur for Tata’s small car project and were unable to till it even after getting it back, are still getting Rs 2,000 as a monthly allowance apart from rice.

Reiterating her criticism of the BJP-led government at the Centre for alleged non-clearance of dues for the MGNREGA project, she said, “Giving wages to those who have toiled for the 100 days’ work is mandatory and Rs 7000 crore is due to the state.”

“The allocation of funds for Awas Yojana and Gramin Sarak Yojana has been stopped. The state bears 60 per cent cost of the central projects but the Centre takes away all the money. We must protest against this,” she said.

Ms Banerjee called upon the people to join the fight and save the country from those who are running it in an authoritarian manner.

“This country belongs to all communities, this state belongs to all irrespective of caste, creed and language,” she said.

In an apparent jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has a cricket stadium named after him at Ahmedabad, she said, “I believe in doing work as much as I can. But I don’t believe in self-publicity like others. I don’t name stadium after me,” she added.

The chief minister said the just concluded Durga Puja festival brought in 40,000 foreign tourists to the state, including Kolkata.

She also said that the Red Road Carnival in which select idols of goddess Durga are showcased can be compared to the Rio Carnival in Brazil.

Raymond Calvert, the oldest new dad in the UK at the age of 78, has passed away at the age of 91 due to a fall. Calvert had his seventh child, Jamie Rai, with his girlfriend Charlotte in 2010. His funeral took place at Skipton Crematorium. Calvert described Jamie Rai as a “gift from God” and his “very own little miracle.” He had no regrets about having a child at his age and said it was possible without the use of Viagra.