Humza Yousaf broke down in tears during a TV interview as he said he does not know if he will ever see his mother-in-law and father-in-law, who are trapped in Gaza, again.
The First Minister said he felt “powerless and helpless” about the plight of his relatives, who travelled to the region last week shortly before the surprise attack on Israel by Hamas.
He said that all he and his wife Nadia El-Nakla could do was “hope and pray” that her parents, grandmother, brother and his children would survive each day.
In an interview with Sky News, the SNP leader also spoke of his “anger” after Foreign Secretary James Cleverly failed to respond to a letter he sent him about their situation.
He also said Rishi Sunak had not spoken to him since he and his wife announced what had happened to her parents earlier this week.
Describing his emotions over the past few days, Mr Yousaf said: “Whether you are First Minister, you’re a journalist, whoever you are, your first instinct is to protect your family as best as you can. And I am completely powerless.”
The First Minister was speaking after sharing a video taken by his mother-in-law Elizabeth El-Nakla on social media from Deir Al-Balah, south of Gaza City, which she said would be her “last”.
She said: “Everybody from Gaza is moving towards where we are. One million people, no food, no water – and still they’re bombing them as they’re leaving.
“Where are you going to put them? But my thought is – all these people in the hospital cannot be evacuated.
“Where is humanity? Where’s people’s hearts in the world, to let this happen in this day and age? May God help us, goodbye.”
Asked if he feared he would never see them again, Mr Yousaf replied: “It’s a worry. We look at our phones every night. My wife will look at her phone every hour, because at night is when we are most distressed, as you can imagine.
“I do not know, I genuinely do not know, if I will see my mother-in-law and father-in-law again. Nadia doesn’t know if she will see her mum and dad again.
“All we can do is watch the news, look at the rolling coverage, wait for messages and then go hours without seeing messages and hope and pray.”
He added that he and his wife were struggling to explain the situation to their four-year-old daughter Amal. “She asked last night, ‘Will granny be back for Halloween?’ because she loves Halloween like every kid loves Halloween, and my mother-in-law helps with the face painting,.
“I said, ‘Of course she will be back’ – but in my heart I don’t know if she will.”
Mr Yousaf said he was “pretty angry” that Mr Cleverly had “so far ignored” his letter, which also asked about the details of other Scots who might be trapped in Gaza.
His wife’s parents, Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla, who live in Dundee, travelled to Gaza last week to visit their son – a doctor – and four grandchildren, and Maged’s elderly mother, who is unwell.