Israel Is Forcing One of the Last Remaining Hospitals in Gaza to Evacuate
In recent days, Palestinians have been fleeing al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital as Israel ordered evacuations in nearby neighborhoods of Deir el-Balah previously labeled as part of the “safe zone” last week and on Sunday.
Though the hospital technically isn’t in the evacuation area drawn by Israel, Israeli officials have said that “forces will operate aggressively” in the areas surrounding it. Further, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has reported that Israeli forces struck an area 250 meters away from the hospital, or just over a tenth of a mile, on Sunday, triggering panic.
The hospital is nearly empty now with only a few dozen occupants left, as many have fled on foot, some wheeling patients out in their beds. Over 600 patients were being treated at the hospital before the forced evacuations, and it was acting as a shelter for many families with nowhere left to go.
Al-Aqsa was one of only roughly 16 hospitals still partially functional in Gaza as Israel has systematically destroyed the health system across the region. Many of these hospitals are small, able to treat only a few dozen patients at a time; al-Aqsa is one of the largest hospitals that hasn’t been thoroughly destroyed by Israeli forces.
