'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,