'I have spent 15 years in active warzones but this was another level of horror'

He thought he'd seen the worst war has to offer. Having worked in Syria and Ukraine, Dr Ammar Darwish was exposed to scenes of utter devastation.

But now, having returned from a month of volunteering in Gaza, the NHS surgeon says he has witnessed another level of horror.

It is believed that more than 42,000 people have been killed in Gaza since war broke out just over a year ago.

Tensions have escalated in the region after Hamas gunmen carried out a massacre at a festival in Israel on October 7 last year, killing 1,200.

More than 240 people were taken hostage.

Israel then launched military action on Gaza to dismantle Hamas. The vast majority of deaths during the brutal conflict have been Palestinian civilians.

Ammar, from Manchester, first went out to Gaza in January, after feeling compelled to help due to the rising death toll. He was also concerned about a lack of medical supplies for doctors.

He has just come back from another month volunteering in the Palestinian territory.

READ MORE: "I am living in a waking nightmare": An October day in Israel... and the shockwaves felt in Manchester

“I’ve been to Syria many times, especially Aleppo, which of course is demanding in terms of emergencies and casualties,” he explained.

“But Gaza is on another level because of the severity of the injuries and the number of casualties constantly coming through, as well as the lack of facilities, lack of even the basic essentials.

“Patients die unnecessarily. Of course, no patient should die, but they are often dying of preventable complications of injuries.

"They are lives which could be saved if we had basic medicine and equipment.

“These people are individuals. They are men, women, children. Fathers, brothers, mothers, wives, sisters, daughters.

"So many children. You see the agony and the pain in both the patients and their families but what affects me the most, I think for all the team, are the injured children.”

The father of two is no stranger to working in active warzones, and has volunteered for over 15 years.

He is a clinical director of the David Nott Foundation, a charity that trains surgeons and other medical professions to provide aid during wartime.

Speaking about one of his most harrowing experiences in Gaza, he said: “One patient was a four-year-old girl who had a direct bullet to her head that hit the brain, her mother and father were absolutely devastated.

"We took her to theatre and operated, we didn’t think she’d survive, but she did.

“She has neurological deficits and will need rehab and further surgery, and that is simply not available in Gaza. Along with many other children similarly afflicted.

“But the problem is not just the physical injuries. There’s also the huge mental and psychological trauma that these children and adults go through which will scar them for life, likely leading to decades of intergenerational trauma.

“This is a huge problem that the medical profession and local families will be facing for years.”

Having been deployed over 50 times for global humanitarian missions, safety becomes a major worry for his family over the years. “My family worry about me going out to conflict zones of course, from the day I leave until the day I come back,” he said.

“They’re always trying to message me, to get through to me, see how I’m doing and ask if I’m OK. But they totally understand and are really supportive, so I’m really grateful for that.”

Dr Darwish says that the only way to stop the bloodshed is an immediate ceasefire. He said: “I will be going back to Gaza because there is huge need, which will continue for years to come, not just when the war stops.

“Irrespective of what side of the politics you stand, an immediate ceasefire is absolutely vital. Without it the deprivation, the mental trauma, the disease, the malnutrition, the huge number of children who are losing limbs daily will continue to rise.”

Dr Darwish has been volunteering with Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a British charity that offers medical services in the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon.

For more information on the charity, click here.