Palestinians fled to Rafah looking for safety. Now, with a ground offensive looming, they feel trapped

Ramzi Okasha came to Rafah from northern Gaza's Saftawi neighbourhood with his wife and two kids. It is his third displacement since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war in October, and with the Israeli Defence Forces now threatening to invade here, he has no idea where to go next. 

The 50-year-old former university lecturer in business administration sits in his tent, in a refugee camp, surrounded by his wife and kids, their belongings piled along the edges. Blankets, mats, bottles of water and backpacks are all that's left for this family, who've been fleeing for their lives for close to four months. 

Their journey first took them to Khan Younis back in October 2023, then to Alqsa University and finally to the southern tip of the Gaza Strip. 

More than a million Palestinians have made similar journeys to Rafah, and are now running out of options, stuck between the border with Egypt and the war in the Gaza Strip. Israel is now threatening to launch a ground offensive into the 64-square-kilometre city, where it says Hamas fighters are sheltering and holding hostages. If that happens, Okasha says people aren't sure about where to go or how to get there. 

"We don't have any transportation, we have nothing to move to another place," he told CBC News freelance reporter Mohamed El Saife. "So we're very afraid of this step if they take it."

Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinian Canadians are trying desperately to get their families out of Rafah before it's too late. 

Since the beginning of the war, the IDF has pushed Gazans south, declaring the area near the border with Egypt a safe zone for civilians. But earlier this week, the IDF bombed parts of Rafah, killing around a hundred people. 

"We heard a lot about the threats by Israel to come into Rafah and take over Rafah," Okasha said. "We don't know what to do because all of the Gaza Strip is under bombing … There is no safe place in the Gaza Strip." 

When the war began, Ayah Baloosha, 19, was displaced from northern Gaza with her six siblings and parents. 

"At first they tell us to go to the middle of Gaza, and then they tell us to go to Rafah, and we're waiting for the next safe area," said Baloosha. 

She tells CBC News she and her family are now in a holding pattern, waiting to see if a ground offensive will take place and for information about where to go next. 

In the same camp, Baloosha says conditions are dire — disease is rampant and sanitary spaces are nonexistent. 

"We are living in really bad humanitarian conditions," she said, also noting that the tents they're living in are so weak they don't even protect people from the elements.

"They can't save us from rockets, from bombings or even from the rain."