An image with the text “All eyes on Rafah” is on every other Instagram story, capturing social media attention and generating discourse on Israel’s war on Gaza.
The AI-generates image urging people to pay attention to Israel’s ongoing massacre in Gaza went viral, with more than 47 million users sharing it in less than 48 hours, according to the Instagram count.
What does ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ image mean?
The post aims to draw attention to the grim situation in Rafah. The image showed tents arranged to spell out “All Eyes on Rafah,” referring to the area in southern Gaza with numerous refugee camps where at least 45 civilians died following an Israeli strike on May 26.
Palestinians reported dozens of deaths and burning of people, including women and children, from fires caused by the strikes.
An Israeli official claimed that a fuel tank explosion triggered by an airstrike caused the fire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the casualties as a “tragic mishap” in Hebrew, later translated as a “tragic incident” in English.
‘All Eyes on Rafah’ social media trend
The post went viral at a time when many feel outraged at the news of the strike on the camp in Rafah.
“The trend of posting ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ has been something that has been building for a little while,” said Matt Navarra, a social media consultant and industry analyst.
“We’ve seen quite a lot of influencers and celebrities and widely followed people on multiple platforms, not just Instagram, that are sharing the sentiment of this message or an almost identical version of it, which will amp up the reach and visibility across many platforms.”
Besides Instagram, the image has also been re-shared hundreds of times on X.
Which celebrities shared the image?
Influencers, athletes, and celebrities, including “Bridgerton” star Nicola Coughlan, singer-songwriter Kehlani, and American supermodel Bella Hadid, American comedian and writer Hasan Minhaj, British actor and activist Jameela Jameel and British singer Dua Lipa. Indian actors, including Varun Dhawan, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Alia Bhatt and Kareena Kapoor Khan also shared the image.
Experts said that the reason behind celebrities and influencers choosing to share this specific image was that it was easier for them to talk about the war in Gaza without posting the real images from Gaza, which are graphic and often show blood, dead bodies and violence.
What does the ‘All eyes on Rafah’ image look like?
The AI-generated image shows an aerial view of endless rows of tents, nestled between what look like snowy peaks. In the middle, some white-colored tents are arranged to spell out “All eyes on Rafah”.
How did the trend begin?
The first Instagram story with the “All Eyes on Rafah” image was posted on Monday by user @shahv4012.
Later, the user commented on their Instagram stories “that they apologize if many people were not ‘satisfied’ with the picture and to keep urgently spreading the word to stop what is happening in Rafah,” Ameera Kawash, a UK-based Palestinian-Iraqi-American artist and researcher, said.
The slogan likely drew inspiration from Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for Gaza, who previously emphasized that “all eyes” were on Rafah. While some argued that sharing the AI image does not fully educate users about the situation in Rafah, others believed it effectively spread awareness and showed solidarity.
In response, pro-Israel Instagram creators posted their own images and infographics. The state of Israel’s Instagram account recently shared an image accusing the platform of censoring pro-Israel content, further intensifying the digital activism on both sides.
AI-generated image that swept across social media
Meta opened its moderation policy board to debates over pro-Palestinian rhetoric and announced efforts to limit political speech on its platforms. AI-generated content gained significant engagement on Meta’s platforms.
Navarra noted that AI-generated images like “All Eyes on Rafah” can effectively communicate messages while adhering to platform rules, potentially bypassing automated moderation.
While the “All Eyes on Rafah” image spread widely, video from Rafah showing the aftermath of Israeli strikes faced restrictions. Instagram removed two of three posts depicting graphic content and placed a sensitive content filter on one.
Instagram stated that the content was removed due to its violent nature, which violated the platform’s policies. The company encouraged users to caption photos with warnings about graphic violence in line with its community guidelines.
The viral image avoided depicting violence directly, mirroring other content that has gained traction on social media over the past eight months.
Interestingly, the image appeared to be AI-generated. Marc Owen Jones, an associate professor of Middle East studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, identified signs of AI generation, such as unrealistic shadows and symmetrical tent arrangements, which marked one of the first instances of viral activist imagery created by artificial intelligence.
Pro-Palestinian activism surged on social media since Israel began its assault on Gaza following October 7 attacks. Recent pro-Palestinian efforts included mass blocking campaigns targeting celebrities who did not show support for Palestinians. Conversely, pro-Israel social media activity also increased, particularly in response to university campus protests.