GAZA CITY, Palestine

Palestinians on Sunday began to evacuate the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and its surroundings amid Israeli orders for residents to evacuate an area east of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

Patients and wounded at the hospital were forced to flee the facility on foot, in wheelchairs, or hospital beds after Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee asked them to evacuate eastern Deir al-Balah. The area was previously classified as a “humanitarian area.”

“We are sick, where can we go in this state? This is not living. We are dead,” said Um Mohamed, who has a broken leg.

Maha al-Sersek, who has been living in tents around the hospital for nine months, said people are shocked by the new evacuation orders and do not know where to go.

“Save us, we are tired now,” appealed the Palestinian woman.

Iyad al-Jabri, the head of the Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, said in a press conference that the wounded patients in need of medical attention left the hospital out of fear for their lives.

Noting that the hospital administration will continue to provide the necessary medical services to patients, he called on international institutions to take action to protect the Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the only functioning hospital in the region.

Gaza’s Health Ministry appealed to protect the hospital, its patients, and health care workers.

The ministry said in a statement that there are still approximately 100 patients in the hospital, seven of whom are receiving treatment in intensive care.

The Israeli army repeatedly issues evacuation orders for Palestinians from their areas in Gaza amid a deadly offensive on the enclave that has killed over 4,400 people since a Hamas attack last Oct. 7.

Human rights groups and international observers have decried the repeated Israeli evacuation orders as they worsen the already bad humanitarian situation in the war-torn enclave.

In addition, Palestinians often find themselves attacked by Israeli forces while en route to such “safe areas.”

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last Oct. 7, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

An ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar