Two Oxford students who spent a week trapped in the Israeli-occupied West Bank say they plan to return to the war zone.

Zaki El-Salahi, 21, from Meadow Lane, Donnington, Oxford, and Dan Glazebrook, 24, from Marlborough Road, Grandpont, were among a group of volunteers who became trapped in Ramallah, following the Israeli invasion of the Palestinian territory.

The men had visited the Holy Land as members of the Sussex University Palestine Solidarity Society, which was helping with humanitarian work in Ramallah.

After seven days, they escaped the besieged town when Israeli authorities temporarily relaxed their curfew. The pair are now back in Oxford, but are already planning to return to the area to continue with relief work.

They stayed with Palestinian and international volunteers in a building owned by the Palestinian Medical Relief Committee, and admitted acting as "human shields" while helping to deliver food and medicines around the city.

Both were shot at by a sniper while travelling in an ambulance, and Mr Glazebrook was arrested and held for three hours while attempting to leave the city.

Mr El-Salahi, a former Peers School student, said: "It is good to be back. It is nice to be with our families though it is worrying that the aggression in Ramallah is still going on, and that friends are still there."

"It was emotionally draining to leave the city and watch soldiers running through the streets, pointing guns at people. I felt we were abandoning them. We were worried about the curfew. I had never had tanks and guns pointed at me before.

"Most people in Ramallah have no food, water or electricity and can't leave their houses. The army is committing random acts of murder. There were nine executions reported while we were there.

"The Palestinians need people to go out and see what's going on. I would definitely urge people to go there, and I hope to go back."

Mr Glazebrook, a former pupil at Cherwell School, and the president of Sussex University Student Union, was arrested and held at a military compound by the Israeli army, before being released.

He said: "It is an invasion. Soldiers were going into houses and executing people. It is not a fight but a massacre.

"Every house is wrecked. All men between 14 and 40 have been rounded up and held, and 1,000 people have been arrested, stripped to their underwear and left outside in a yard."

Both men are now planning a tour of the country, during which they will speak about their experiences and encourage other volunteers to travel to the occupied territories.