Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran has spoken of her “torturous” worries over her family who are caught up in Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.
During the Israeli blackout on the territory she said they had no idea if her relatives were “dead or alive,” but since learned that they are safe “for now.”
Moran’s extended family are Palestinian Christians and they are taking shelter in a Church in Gaza with another 100 people.
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The Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokeswoman that the attitude of those in Gaza changed her thinking of where her family should relocate from the strikes and considered “where do we want to be when we die?”
She told the BBC, “Nowhere in Gaza is safe, and the conversation in Gaza, I’m afraid to say, has changed.
“No longer are people saying, ‘Where do we go to be safe?’ the question they are now asking is ‘Where do we want to be when we die?’.
“This is not hyperbole, this is not just from them but their friends and family who we are in touch with. I cannot over-stress the situation.”
Speaking to Victoria Derbyshire on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, Moran said, “We are deeply worried for their safety.
“The 24-48 hours where the internet and everything else was cut was torturous.
“Not knowing whether they were dead or alive – we are worried for them anyway – I can’t tell you what that did to us as a family.
“We have heard since, because someone in the church has a foreign sim that can connect to the Israeli networks, has put out a message saying that, for now, they are safe.”
Moran said on X, that she is “petrified” for her family, but “at least we know they are alive.”
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