A UK surgeon who has recently returned from working in Gaza has described the "appalling scenes" he witnessed, the "appalling injuries" and "catastrophic problems with malnutrition."

Nick Maynard, a consultant surgeon at Oxford University Hospital, was operating in the enclave with Medical Aid for Palestinians and echoed the recent demands by the UN for Israel to allow more aid in.

In an exclusive interview with CGTN Europe, Maynard said: "I've been out there multiple times in the last two years, and each trip I go on it's much worse. I saw people dying of starvation, newborn babies, children, adults, particularly my patients who had severe injuries we operated on. They were so malnourished that many of them died.

"Any aid coming in is better than what they've been experiencing over the last six months, but it's not getting to the hospitals in any quantity. We need to have unlimited access for aid and multiple humanitarian corridors to open up. 

"Most importantly we need the Rafah crossing to be opened to allow all the aid to come in. We welcome any aid, but there's nothing like enough and it's not making any significant material difference to the hospital's ability to treat patients at the moment."

On Wednesday, the UN's International Court of Justice ruled that Israel should allow aid into Gaza, and its restrictions on doing so over the past two years had put it in breach of its obligations.

Israel dismissed the ICJ findings with its foreign ministry saying it categorically rejected the court's findings and added: "Israel fully upholds its obligations under international law."

Ceasefire fall-out

Two weeks ago, there were jubilant scenes in Israel and the Palestinian territories when hostages and prisoners were exchanged from both sides under the ceasefire deal and US President Donald Trump declared the end of the two-year long war.

Although the immediate priority will be feeding the thousands of Gazans heading back north to their homes and concerns continue over the fragile truce, the long term medical and psychological rehabilitation is likely to be a growing problem.

"It's a really important point," Maynard added. "There are nearly 400,000 people with chronic diseases in Gaza which have not been treated remotely adequately over the last two years. There's probably 12,000 to 15,000 patients with cancer not being treated. 

"Many people are dying from these these excess deaths. That's a term we became familiar with during COVID. The Lancet Medical Journal estimate is there are over 350,000 people in Gaza who've died of excess deaths of non-trauma related diseases, for which malnutrition is a major contributor. That's nearly 15 percent of the population.

"The needs of the population of Gaza are just enormous in terms of treating these chronic diseases. Even if there was unlimited aid and food going in today, which we pray for, there would still be many more deaths from these diseases which have remained untreated and from the malnutrition."