I saw my parents' home in Gaza being bombed live on TV

Mohammed relives moment he watched house razed in air raid

- SARAH VESTY and KAITLIN EASTON

A SCOTS academic has told of the horrifying moment he watched his parents' home in Gaza being bombed live on TV.

Dr Mohammed Alshurafa feared mum Abeer, 52, disabled dad Bahjat, 63, and brother Amro, were inside when it was hit by a rocket during Israeli air strikes shortly after 3am on Sunday.

Mohammed, 33, an assistant professor of accountancy at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, tried frantically to phone them as he watched the Al Jazeera news coverage.

Harrowing footage showed an orange flash lighting up the sky then thick, black plumes of smoke.

Mohammed later learned his family were given a 10-minute warning to flee their home before it was destroyed.

They lost everything including the family business and were left with just the clothes on their backs.

Mohammed, 33, told the Record: "I didn't know anything was going on until I saw it happening live on TV. I was watching Al Jazeera and they had the camera pointing at my family home. I recognised it immediately.

"I thought they had turned the camera towards it by accident but then all of a sudden, there was a big explosion. The house was completely destroyed and I thought my family were still inside.