Exhausted after months on the move, Palestinians in Rafah face impossible decisions once again.

With passing days, more and more people have crammed into Gaza's southernmost city, which itself is squeezed against the heavily fortified border with Egypt, and wonder where they can go as the threat of an Israeli ground offensive in the city weighs on their minds.

"We are afraid for our lives," Iman Abu Musa told DW in a WhatsApp message. The 22-year-old recently fled to Rafah from neighboring Khan Yunis, where heavy ground fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants has sent thousands of people south and west in search of safety. Abu Musa said all she could do now is pray for "God's protection."

"We really hope that the aggression will stop before the army enters Rafah and before the situation deteriorates further," Abu Musa wrote.

There is nowhere safe in Gaza!

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "it is impossible to achieve the war's goal of eliminating Hamas by leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah." He then told the military and security establishment to present "a combined plan for evacuating the population and destroying the battalions." Over the weekend, he claimed in a US TV interview that civilians would be provided "safe passage," without detailing where the large number of people would be able to go.

The announcement immediately caused widespread international alarm. "The scenario we have long dreaded is unraveling at alarming speed," Martin Griffiths, the UN's undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said in a statement on Tuesday. "More than half of Gaza's population - well over 1 million people - are crammed in Rafah, staring death in the face. They have little to eat, hardly any access to medical care, nowhere to sleep, nowhere safe to go," as reported by DW news.

To read the detailed report https://dw.com/p/4cOU0?maca=en-WorldNews_engarticles-35821-xml-media