Swinney attacks Trump's Gaza 'take over' plans as 'ethnic cleansing'

Swinney endorsed Trump's rival in the US presidential race, Democrat Kamala Harris, but has sought to avoid direct criticism of the former Apprentice star since he returned to the Oval Office.

Trump's mother was from the Isle of Lewis and and Swinney has repeatedly said he wanted to use his affinity for Scotland to strengthen economic and cultural ties between the nations.

Scottish businesses, particularly Scotch whisky exporters, are keen to avoid a repeat of damaging trade tariffs imposed in Trump's first presidency.

Until now, harsher criticism from the first minister has been reserved for Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X and member of Trump's administration. At a speech last month, Swinney describing him as a "populist".

Ethnic cleansing has not been recognised as an independent crime under international law, though the term has been used in UN resolutions.

A UN commission of experts looking into humanitarian crimes in the former Yugoslavia defined ethnic cleansing, external as "rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups from the area".

The recent conflict between Israel and Gaza began on 7 October 2023 when Hamas fighters stormed into Israeli territory, killing about 1,200 people.

The subsequent war has killed more than 46,600 people in Gaza, including a large number of women and children, according to figures by the Hamas-run health authority.