Rafah, Gaza Strip – Around 1.5 million Palestinians, most of them displaced people, are affected squeezed into the small town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

They were driven from their homes in other parts of the Gaza Strip during Israel’s assault on the besieged enclave, which killed more than 28,000 people.

Israel had declared Rafah a “safe zone” but is now threatening a ground invasion, leaving more than a million people trapped there, scared and with nowhere else to go.

Rafah is the latest in a series of areas that Israel has said would be “safe zones” for civilians to shelter from attacks that have now been going on for four months, but Israel has attacked them one by one and repeatedly drove people away.

Israel’s plan to invade Rafah has drawn international condemnation, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is determined to press ahead, claiming this would “finish Hamas”, which is the stated intention behind the attack on Gaza.

Senior Hamas leaders said such a move by Israel would destroy any possibility of negotiations between the two sides.

Against this backdrop, the fear and panic that has gripped the people of Rafah continues to grow. Al Jazeera spoke to several Palestinians who ended up in Rafah because of the war, some of whom had already been displaced multiple times.

“Nowhere else to go”

Umm al-Abed Fayyad said she and her family had been displaced four times so far.

“We are in a different area every month. The last place we were was Khan Younis and now we are in Rafah,” she explained.

Asked what she thought about the possibility of an Israeli invasion, Umm al-Abed Fayyad said she had “nowhere else to go.”

“The Israelis are everywhere. Where are we going?” she asked, noting that the people around her were “hungry and homeless.”

Like others in the area, she says, “No matter how much they threaten, we will not back down, and God willing, we will be victorious.” We will persevere and remain patient.”

Asaad Hassan, another Palestinian displaced from Gaza City to Rafah, is unwell. His only wish, he says, is “to return to my homeland and for the aggression to stop.”

“We have nowhere to go but the grave if they carry out their threats and invade Rafah,” Hassan told Al Jazeera.

Israel’s war in the besieged Gaza Strip began on October 7th. That day, the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas that rules Gaza, launched attacks on southern Israel, killing 1,139 people and sending about 240 back to Gaza.

Israel immediately responded with a bombing campaign, followed by a land invasion of the northern Gaza Strip.

At least 28,340 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, while 67,984 have been injured in the past four months.

The majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been forced from their homes and more than 60 percent of all infrastructure in the Strip has been destroyed.

“There will be massacres”

Umm Badr Abu Salme said she and her family moved to Rafah on orders from the Israeli army because it was safer there.

“We came to Rafah and now they are telling us to leave,” she told Al Jazeera. “There will be massacres. There is no other place to go. Rafah is our last refuge. This war must stop.”

“Anyone who moves will be killed,” Abu Salme said. “We don’t have a safe place to go.”

Mohammed Madi, a medic, has been displaced several times since he was forced to leave his home in Gaza City.

“If the occupation carries out its threats and invades Rafah, it will be a disaster,” Madi told Al Jazeera.

“Still, I won’t leave Rafah because where should we go? The rest of Gaza is destroyed. I will die here before I leave,” he said.

“We call on Arab countries to make a decision and end this genocidal war against Gaza,” Madi said.

On December 29, South Africa filed a lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice, arguing that it was committing genocide against the Palestinian people – a term many have used to describe Israel’s war on Gaza.

Journalist Alaa Salameh, a Rafah resident who has covered the war across Gaza, said he would stay to report from the city despite Israeli threats.

“The Israeli army has carried out countless massacres throughout the Gaza Strip. If it invades Rafah, it will do the same,” Salameh told Al Jazeera.

“The occupation does not comply with international law. If they enter Rafah, there will be no safe place left,” he continued. “Global pressure must be applied to prevent this potential crime.”

He pointed out that Israel had already killed thousands of Palestinians in airstrikes on Rafah in recent months.

Haifaa Mohammad Abdelhamid Saleh had to leave her home in Gaza City and come to Rafah. “We left on October 14th. We didn’t want to leave Gaza City or our homes, but the Israeli occupation told us we would be safe otherwise.”

“We hope they don’t invade Rafah. If they do, there will be a humanitarian catastrophe – not only for the refugees, but also for the residents of the city,” Saleh said.

“They burned everything in Gaza. They want revenge on the resistance in Gaza.”