Humza Yousaf has been labelled a “national embarrassment” after failing to condemn Hamas for their attack on Israel.
The SNP First Minister was slammed for giving a weak response to the ongoing situation in the Middle East.
Yousaf, who has been a staunch critic of Israel in the past, posted online to say: "My wife Nadia and I spent this morning on the phone to her family in Gaza.
"Many others in Scotland will be deeply worried about their families in Israel and Palestine. My thoughts and prayers are very much with those worried about loved ones caught up in this awful situation."
WATCH NOW: Israel declares war on Hamas
The First Minster did repost a tweet from Westminster Foreign Affairs spokesman Brendan O’Hara. Who said: "The scenes we are witnessing from Gaza and Israel are deeply disturbing.
"Along with the rest of the international community, we condemn the actions of Hamas, just as we condemn the killing of all innocent civilians, be they Israeli or Palestinian."
However, the First Minister was slammed for failing to personally condemn Hamas and for not taking sides in a post considered by many to be too neutral.
A number of Tory MPs called him out for his neutral tweet.
MSP Stephen Kerr said: "Humza Yousaf has failed to call out Hamas for what they are: terrorists. He’s an embarrassment to our great nation. Scotland deserves better!"
Former Scottish Tory leader Jackson Carlaw added: "Ongoing Hamas terrorism tonight in Israel is beyond disgusting. The limp response of Scotland’s FM (it’s not some natural disaster but an act of vicious terror) & the bewildering lack of any response from Kirsten Oswald is a complete abdication of leadership. Shameful."
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Israel PM says 'we are at war' after major attack from HamasReutersYousaf was even compared to Jeremy Corbyn, who was embroiled in an antisemitic scandal when he was the Labour Leader.
Nick Timothy, a former adviser to Theresa May, said: "Jeremy Corbyn isn't the only British political leader who seems unable to condemn terrorism - terrorism of the most barbaric kind imaginable."
Scottish Journalist Susan Dalgety pointed to Yousaf's front page feature in Times Magazine as a leader to watch but stated that he was failing to live up to this accolade.
She said: "Humza Yousaf was no doubt flattered by this accolade from Time but leadership is not a photo-shoot. His failure - so far - to condemn Hamas’s atrocities against Israeli women and girls shames him, and Scotland.
"A true leader would stand up and speak out."
A Palestinian boy reacts next to a burning Israeli vehicle that Palestinian gunmen brought to Gaza after they infiltrated areas of southern IsraelReutersOver 700 Israelis have been killed as a result of an attack by Hamas which started over the weekend.
Israel has since launched retaliatory strikes, which have killed over 400 Palestinians.
Rescuers say they've found more than 250 bodies at the site of an Israeli music festival attacked by Hamas militants on Saturday.
A British national, Nathanel Young, who was serving in the Israeli army, has been killed.
GB News has approached Humza Yousaf for comment
