‘All eyes on Rafah’: How AI-generated images took social media by storm

TOAn image showing refugee tents that spells out the phrase “all eyes on Rafah” has become one of the most shared content related to the war between Israel and Gaza, and has spread rapidly on social media this week. week. The graphic, which was generated using artificial intelligence, had been shared on Instagram more than 45 million times as of Wednesday.

The image and reactions have also gained traction outside of Instagram. On TikTok, a creator’s video commenting on the image racked up 10 million views within 24 hours of being posted. After the image was shared on a pro-Palestinian account on X on Monday, the post garnered 8 million views and 188,000 retweets in a matter of days.

Although “all eyes on Rafah” has floated around as a pro-Palestinian slogan for months, the increase in posts of the image and its widespread adoption has come in recent days. International attention on Rafah increased this week after an Israeli military strike on Sunday killed at least 45 people in one of the city’s tent camps for displaced people. Witnesses described scenes of devastation and civilian deaths from the attack, including women and children who were burned to death in the fire that followed.

The Israeli military said it had been targeting senior Hamas militants, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the civilian deaths a “tragic mistake.”

Since Israel launched its war in Gaza in October 2023 in response to Hamas atrocities in southern Israel, social media has been flooded with harrowing images of violence, even as some activists and users have complained that the platforms are actively suppressing that content. Observers don’t know why this particular image has risen to the top of the feeds.

“It’s hard to say why this image has caught the public’s attention and not others,” said Nadim Nashif, founder and director of the social media watchdog group 7amleh. “I assume that for the graphic images from that night, Meta would reduce their accessibility or remove them entirely.”

The exact origins of the image displaying the “all eyes on Rafah” slogan are unclear, but Mashable reported that the Instagram template that allows users to repost was created by a relatively small account that appears to be based in Malaysia and has shared several pro-Palestinian graphics. The image bears little resemblance to what Rafah or Gaza looks like, showing an open desert landscape with rows of refugee tents and snow-capped mountains in the background.

The phrase may have originated in comments made in February by Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s representative for Gaza and the occupied West Bank, who said that “all eyes” were on an imminent offensive in Rafah.

As the image gained prominence, several celebrities and influential Instagram accounts spread the post to their millions of followers. Actors Priyanka Chopra, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt, each of whom has tens of millions of followers on Instagram, reposted the image. Actor Pedro Pascal and singer Dua Lipa shared other posts with the slogan.

The popularity of the post has also led to several imitations and counter-images from pro-Israel accounts, including a graphic design agency’s post showing a Hamas fighter holding gun in front of babywhich has been shared more than 300,000 times on Instagram.