The United Nations is warning Israel against a mass displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

U.N. SPOKESPERSON, STEPHANE DUJARRIC:

"We would not support in any way forced displacement, which goes against international law."

More than half of Gaza's 2.3 million people are sheltering in Rafah right up to the border fence with Egypt.

They're subject to deadly Israeli strikes and dire humanitarian conditions.

Aid agencies have warned large numbers of civilians could die and that there's nowhere safe for people to go.

"They tell you there's a safe place, but on the way, they bomb people," Deeb Ghanam says.

Many Palestinians say they fear a new Nakba... or catastrophe.

That's when 700,000 Palestinians were dispossessed from their homes during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned of mass displacement for months.

This was his spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, on February 9:

"I think what is clear is that people need to be protected, but we also do not want to see any forced displacement, forced mass displacement of people, which is by definition against their will."

Arab nations, especially neighbors Egypt and Jordan, strongly oppose any Israeli attempt to push Palestinians over the border.

Egypt says it will not allow such movement onto its territory and has kept the border closed, only allowing a few thousand foreigners, dual nationals and a handful of others to cross.

It has strengthened security and border defenses in Sinai.

Arab countries say Palestinians must not be driven from the land where they want to make a future state, including Gaza.

Israel has dismissed all suggestions that mass displacement is on its agenda.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office says it has ordered the military to develop a plan to evacuate the population of Rafah.

It says four Hamas battalions are deployed there.

But comments by some high-ranking Israeli politicians have stoked fears.

Israeli Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter told Israel's Channel 12 in November: "This is Gaza's Nakba."

In late January, far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir publicly urged Jewish settlers to return and resettle Gaza - to rapturous applause.

Palestinians said his words amounted to a call for their forced deportation.

He prompted a reprimand from White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby.

"Irresponsible, reckless, incendiary... What we have made clear that there can be no reduction in Gaza territory."

Israel launched its war on Gaza on October 7, after Hamas militants infiltrated the border, killed about 1,200 people and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Gaza's health ministry says more than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed in the months since.