“Everyone huddles together in the ground floor,” he said. “Beds are scarce, so some sit on the floor, trying to find comfort amidst the chaos. The darkness is oppressive, only interrupted by the flashes of explosions. We do our best to reassure the children, telling them stories or singing softly to mask the sounds of bombardment. Prayer becomes a collective solace, a desperate plea for safety.

“Communication is strained amid the noise. Shouts of reassurance and whispered conversations mix with the relentless echoes of explosions. Mixed feelings of fear and uncertainty. We share glances filled with dread, knowing that each bomb brings us closer to the impending battle.”

Alsaadawi said the uncertainty about what was coming next was paralysing. “Netanyahu’s announcement adds a layer of fear, and the realisation that there might be no escape amplifies the fear,” he said. “It’s a helpless feeling, compounded by the knowledge that destruction is imminent, and we’re trapped in its path.

“Overwhelmingly, the emotion is a mix of fear, frustration, and a sense of abandonment.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese this week added his voice to those of US President Joe Biden and other national leaders calling for Israel to rethink its planned ground offensive in Rafah. For Palestinian Australians with family trapped in Rafah, there is an overwhelming feeling of dread.

Hadil Albarqi left Gaza four years ago to study in Melbourne. At the end of last year, her mother, Ektimal, and brother Khalid fled their Khan Younis home, which was under attack from Israeli forces, to seek refuge in Rafah.

They are now living with her aunt and four other people in a house that has no electricity, no heating, little food and almost no water. Their home in Khan Younis has been destroyed.

“Everyone is just extremely exhausted,” Albarqi said. “All my friends and their families still in Gaza are in Rafah. They are very scared about what is going to happen, but they are all in limbo. Where are they going to go?

“No one ever expected it to drag on for this long. I guess we were naive enough to think the US and the West would intervene and pressure Israel to stop.”

Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni said the Rafah evacuation order had left Australia’s Palestinian community in a state of shock and despair.

“This is undoubtedly an act of genocidal aggression against families and entire communities that were rounded up and forced towards Rafah as Israel systematically razed their homes and neighbourhoods across all other parts of Gaza,” he said. “Israel is telegraphing a massacre targeting civilians in Rafah.”

Thomas White, the UN Relief and Works Agency chief, said every open space in Rafah had a makeshift shelter on it, people were living on footpaths, and the dunes west of town were a sea of tents and lean-tos.

The provision of aid in Rafah is already under intense strain and the agency is nearing financial collapse following the suspension of donations by more than a dozen countries, including Australia, in response to Israeli allegations that a dozen people who worked for the agency were involved in the October 7 massacre in southern Israel.

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The United Nations is investigating the allegations and severed ties with those implicated. White said that unless the funding was quickly restored, he wouldn’t be able to pay staff and contractors crucial not only to the provision of aid by UNRWA, but other humanitarian agencies operating in Gaza.

Netanyahu has suggested that civilians in Rafah might be able to shift north back into parts of Gaza where Israel has completed its operations. President Biden has demanded that Israel produce a detailed plan to protect civilian life before it launches its ground offensive. For White, the idea of putting a million already displaced people back onto the road is untenable.

“We need a ceasefire,” he said. “People are absolutely traumatised by this war. They have already moved several times. They are living with grossly inadequate sanitation and shelter, and the healthcare system is collapsing.