An aid worker has told of the devastation on the ground in Gaza, as an appeal to raise money for the Middle East continues.

Katie Roxburgh, whose parents are from Islay and Glasgow, works with the Disasters Emergency Committee which is supporting victims of the conflict in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Israel.

As part of her work with Christian Aid, she has first hand accounts of the devastation in areas like Khan Younis.

Ms Roxburgh said: "It's really the most difficult situation any human can imagine. It's utterly devastating. People have lost everything and have nothing to live with. Some of our partners said that they couldn't even imagine 1% of what they're seeing now before the war started. It's horrific.

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"Children are seeing corpses on the street. There's the mass destruction of infrastructure.  People have lost their homes, hospitals, schools are destroyed, and then there's huge displacement as well.

"Many people have been displaced multiple times and are now living in cramped conditions with very little help. Hygiene items are hard to come by. There's no soap. There's no shampoo.

"In terms of hunger levels, there's very little food that people are able to get their hands on. But our partners have set up community kitchens, which is a great kind of community initiative, and they are providing those kitchens with food. And then people are cooking for themselves, and then also the people in the shelters that they're with. At the start of the war our partner told us that she had lost 30 kg in the space of two months because she was foregoing food to feed her kids.

"It's a really unbelievable situation that that women particularly are going through. And that just gives you a sense of the kind of scale of of hunger.

"People are having maybe one meal a day and often skipping meals, especially parents who will skip meals to let their children eat.

"There's still some farming happening in Gaza. So some vegetables and fruits are being grown, but it's really small scale, and lots of farming areas have been destroyed as well.

CFTA staff giving out date bars, as a healthy and nice treatCFTA staff giving out date bars, as a healthy and nice treat (Image: Majdi Fathi) "It was actually just the the date harvesting season in the last month, and one of our partners was working with volunteers across Gaza to harvest the dates because they're quite nutritionally rich, and then they were distributing them to children as a special treat."

The level of destruction means delivering aid is an ongoing challenge, with schools, hospitals and more destroyed.

Ms Roxburgh said: "Our partners are quite innovative.  Because there's such a lack of aid getting in, it's really a drop in the ocean but the the kind of work that they're doing is really kind of community led, innovative, things like setting up camps or shelters for people with disabilities.

"So using the kind of the skills that they had prior to the war, working with people with disabilities to set up these shelters, which are accessible, accessible tents, accessible toilets, working with engineers to make these places liveable for people with specific needs.

"We also have a partner who are an agricultural organization who previously worked with farmers and are still working with farmers to get the food and the vegetables and fruit that the farmers are growing and kind of processing that, and then distributing it among the people.

"They also have engineers as part of their organization, who are rehabilitating wells and also rehabilitating desalination plants which have been destroyed. So this is kind of happening all the time as and when there's destruction they are there rebuilding again."

The DEC is running an ongoing appeal for the Middle East, with the fundraising effort backed by all five of Scotland's major parties.

The UK Government has pledged to match any donations from the public up to £10m.

Ms Roxburgh said: "People in Gaza need our help. They are in need of everything. They're in need of food, water, shelter, medicine, hygiene, items like soap and shampoo, so our donations can help massively in reaching more people in Gaza to provide them with those lifesaving materials.

"It’s hugely important that people donate to the appeal to be able to reach the most vulnerable people in the Middle East at the moment with lifesaving materials like food, water, shelter, medicine. As winter approaches people are scared for their lives.

"It's hugely important that people donate to the appeal. The crisis is worsening, and people are really fearing for their lives. They're in need of everything. Lifesaving materials like food, water, shelter, medicine, and donations will really help people get the kind of materials and items that they need to survive this. What might be a very bitter and cold winter coming ahead.

"Please keep the people of Gaza, Lebanon, and the wider region in your minds, and please donate. It's a hugely difficult situation for everyone in the region, and the needs are massive. Donations will really help people's lives, help people to survive help people to get the food and the water and the shelter that they need to survive."