The European Hospital, in southern Gaza, is a dangerous place to be. 

The facility is the only remaining hospital east of the city of Rafah and an Israeli military operation has come perilously close to its doors.

It was a hazardous time then, for three British medics to begin a short placement, arriving at the hospital just a few days before the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) began its campaign.

Now they are unable to leave.

We managed to speak to one of these doctors – an orthopaedic and peripheral nerve surgeon from London called Mohammed Tahir.

He volunteered with a non-profit medical charity called Fajr Scientific and I asked him to describe what he has been seeing.

“In the last few days, with the intensifying of the bombing in Rafah, we are getting many blast injuries here,” he said.

“People literally, their limbs and their bodies torn to shreds. Children with mutilated faces, kids whose limbs we’ve had to amputate because of the complexity of the injuries.”

Gaza latest: Israel’s use of weapons provided by US likely violated international law – report

“When did you arrive? What date did you enter Gaza?” I asked.

“I’ll be honest with you. I mean, right now, night, day, (the) days of the week have all evaporated.

“I work from morning until night, every day. Sometimes I finish at 4am, so I’ve lost track of time. I can’t even remember what day (it is). It was circa around one and a half weeks ago.”

He accepts that he was taking a risk by travelling to Gaza when he did.

“Before coming here, I was warned by several friends, do not go now, because the Rafah invasion is imminent, and you are going over a very dangerous time,” he said.

“But I was anxious, a little bit scared to come, but then I thought if not me, then who?”

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Dr Tahir has dealt with anxiety – but has had to grapple with personal distress.

This is the first time he has worked in a war zone and the nature and intensity of the work has been overwhelming.

The surgeon says he has dealt with 150 cases in the past 10 days.

“(There was) an airstrike, the parents were killed, there were two small children, one of whom we tried to resuscitate, but he was covered in burns from head to toe and we called it, he died,” he said.

“His sister by the side was also covered in wounds, massive wounds to our forehead. Her skull was exposed and she had a skull fracture too.

“And I’m there looking at these two children wondering: ‘What did they do?’.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

The staff at the European Hospital do their best to keep people alive – but their workplace has also become a refuge.

“This is a refugee camp,” said Dr Tahir.

“It is a hospital within a refugee camp. You have people, children and women sleeping on floors, in corridors, on stairs, even with makeshift tents inside, tents outside too.”

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free

Read more from Sky News:
UK drops aid into Gaza by parachute
Israeli hostages’ families urge ceasefire

There is a perception that the presence of foreign medical doctors offers a measure of security.

Listen above then tap here to follow the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

“There are a lot of families here looking for shelter because they know outside of the perimeter of this hospital they can be killed,” he said.

“When they see us as people from foreign (medical) missions, they feel that we are, in effect, human shields for them against Israeli airstrikes because we are their protection.

“And when they hear that we have to be evacuated or that there is a whisper (of that), the entire population in the hospital are gripped with fear and panic that they are about to die.”

When I put it to the surgeon that the Israelis have described their operation in southern Gaza as a limited, counter-terrorism operation, he took 4 or 5 seconds to respond.

“What I see on the floor in real life is very different to that.”

One thing Dr Tahir cannot do is leave.

When the IDF captured the Gaza side of the Rafah Crossing on the first day of their operation, they shut down the main humanitarian route in and out of the territory.

I asked the surgeon how he felt about it.

“I feel for my family, not for myself. I know that they are terrified,” he said.

“I know that my friends and family are really concerned for my wellbeing.

“And I think it hurts them more than it hurts me… but the intensity of the feeling that I have because of the tragedies that I am seeing, because of the suffering I’m seeing it.

“I just feel like it cannot stop. I have to keep going and going and going. There is no time to rest, there is no time to sleep. I don’t have that luxury right now.”

Related posts:

Activist calls for ‘full representation’ at COP26 climate summit ‘We miss the British’: Eerily quiet Portugal looks ahead to influx of flights tomorrow morning Woman claims she and two Uighurs were held in secret Chinese detention facility in Dubai Biden says he stands ‘squarely’ behind decision to pull troops out of Afghanistan UK, Australia and US agree partnership to boost defences and share nuclear submarine secrets ‘The war changed everything’: Ukraine’s top performers forced to grapple war and music Allowing Russian athletes to compete in Olympics tells world ‘terror is acceptable’, says Zelenskyy Plane passenger could face years in jail for ‘opening door mid-flight’ Second North Korean spy satellite launch fails – as Kim Jong Un inspects a tractor factory Iran and Saudi Arabia among six new countries asked to join trading bloc to rival G7 Netanyahu is openly defying the US – and they want him gone North Korea claims it has tested underwater nuclear attack drone