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, Anadolu news agency reported.

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.

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 Hamas last 7 October,  despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

The onslaught has resulted in over 40,400 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and over 93,000 injuries, according to local health authorities.

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

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on 6 May.