However, Yousaf announced that £250,000 of taxpayers’ money should instead be given to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) – which has been criticised over claims it has links to Hamas.

He told officials that: “We should just announce an extra £250k to them”.

The donation was publicly confirmed the same day that Yousaf met a delegation of senior UNRWA officials in Edinburgh on November 2, the Telegraph reports.

A day later, on November 3, his mother-in-law and father-in-law left Gaza via the Rafah crossing.

The First Minister has rejected allegations that the donation was connected with the release of his family.

A spokesman said: “UNRWA had no role in the situation regarding the First Minister’s extended family, and any suggestion of a conflict of interest in this matter would be completely untrue.”

Yousaf’s meddling in the allocation of aid has been slammed as a conflict of interest, as he faces questions over whether his actions breached the ministerial code.

A report is thought to have been made to the Metropolitan Police’s anti-terror hotline.

Stephen Kerr, a Conservative MSP who sits on Scotland’s standards, procedures and public appointments committee, said: “The First Minister has some serious explaining to do, starting with why he overrode officials to take money away from the vital Unicef water programme and assign it to UNRWA.

“It looks as if the money was not budgeted and that the First Minister was prepared to bend the rules and not follow procedure.

“Humza Yousaf has a clear conflict of interest in the awarding of aid to Gaza.

“Clearly, the fact that so many members of his family are either living in Gaza or are involved with Palestinian organisations raises significant questions about what his motivation is for using taxpayers’ money in the area.”