Patients, staff and families who have sought shelter in the last remaining hospital in central Gaza are being forcibly displaced as the threat of an attack by Israeli forces looms and Israel orders evacuations in the area surrounding the vital medical facility.

In recent days, Palestinians have fled Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital after Israel ordered evacuations last week and on Sunday in the nearby neighborhoods of Deir el-Balah, previously designated as part of the “security zone.”

Although the hospital is not technically in the evacuation zone designated by Israel, Israeli officials have stated that forces will “act aggressively” in the surrounding areas. In addition, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has reported that Israeli forces attacked an area 250 meters from the hospital on Sunday, causing panic.

The hospital is now almost empty, with only a few dozen patients left. Many fled on foot, some pushed patients out in their beds. Before the forced evacuation, over 600 patients were being treated in the hospital. Many families who had nowhere else to go found refuge there.

Patients there were faced with an impossible choice: risk death at the hands of the Israeli military or flee and face possible complications from the condition that had brought them to the hospital, which was likely caused by the genocide in Israel.

“Our destiny is death,” said Fatimah al-Attar Related Pressfought back tears during the evacuation. “There is no place we can go. There is no safe place.”

Doctors Without Borders, which supports the hospital, said it was “considering stopping wound care for the time being while trying to maintain life-saving treatment.”

Al-Aqsa was one of only about 16 hospitals in Gaza that were still partially functional, as Israel has systematically destroyed the health system throughout the region. Many of these hospitals are small and can only treat a few dozen patients at a time. Al-Aqsa is one of the largest hospitals that was not completely destroyed by Israeli forces.

The Israeli military’s raids in Gaza over the past decade have been brutal. Following Israel’s raid on al-Shifa Hospital – previously the largest hospital in Gaza – this spring, Palestinian officials discovered three mass graves there. In total, over 500 bodies were found in seven mass graves discovered in the area after the Israeli attack.

Even though Palestinians are evacuating Al-Aqsa, there is virtually nowhere left for them to go in Gaza.

The so-called humanitarian zone in Gaza, which Israel bombs despite being considered safe, is at full capacity. The “safe” zone covers only 11 percent of Gaza’s area, and humanitarian organizations estimate that 1.9 million people have been forcibly displaced at least once. Aid organizations say the “safe” zone is so overcrowded that even roads are blocked by tents, making the delivery of humanitarian aid almost impossible.

“This is a complete dehumanization. A never-ending tragedy,” the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said of the evacuations. “Families across the Gaza Strip continue to be forced to flee, leaving their homes and belongings behind. All they can do now is try to stay alive. People have lost absolutely everything.”

The agency found that the Israeli attack on Deir el-Balah had significantly reduced water capacity there, causing a water deficit of 85 percent.