The image shows tents arranged in a camp to form the words “All Eyes on Rafah”.
Human rights organisations and a number of nations have strongly condemned the most recent Israeli strikes on Gaza’s Rafah that resulted in the deaths of at least 45 Palestinians, many of them youngsters, in tents housing displaced people. At least eight Israeli missiles struck the Tal as-Sultan area, a designated “safe zone” northwest of Rafah city, according to witnesses cited by Al Jazeera.
Despite considerable international concern over civilian losses, Rafah, which is currently home to hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians from all over the Gaza Strip, came under Israeli ground and air attack on Sunday. In addition, the attack set a number of tents on fire, which spread throughout the region and claimed more lives. The fire was caused by a fuel tank explosion that was brought on by an Israeli airstrike, according to NBC.
“All Eyes On Rafah”: What the image depicts
An photograph with the words “All Eyes on Rafah” began to circulate when images of burnt dead and people with serious injuries appeared on social media. The campaign, led by activists and aid organisations, attempts to raise awareness of the Gaza Strip’s southern metropolis, where residents are compelled to live in overcrowded camps without access to basic supplies.
In the picture, tents at a camp are set up to spell out the words “All Eyes on Rafah,” a call to action for people to pay attention to the situation in Gaza’s southernmost city, where 1.5 million people have taken refuge after being hit by Israeli bombs.
Is this a true picture? Perhaps one of the first photographs of activism to go viral created by artificial intelligence is this one. The image “looks” like it was made by artificial intelligence, according to Marc Owen Jones, a researcher on deception. NBC noted that the image appears artificial intelligence (AI)-generated due to its unusual symmetry, strange shadows, and lack of realism in the tent camp.
What is the origin of the phrase? The World Health Organization’s Office of the Occupied Palestinian Territories director, Rick Peeperkorn, is credited for coining the slogan in a statement. He said this in February, not long after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Rafah to evacuate in anticipation of attacks on what he then claimed to be the militant group Hamas’ final surviving strongholds.
How widely the picture was shared The slogan has also been taken up by advocacy organisations such as the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Americans for Justice in Palestine Action, Save the Children, Oxfam, Jewish Voice for Peace, and others. The hashtag #AllEyesOnRafah has received millions of views and over 1,95,000 posts on social media. On Tuesday, it was also the top trending topic on Instagram, where there were almost a million more postings.
The image has been shared over 29 million times on Instagram in less than 24 hours.
Global support for the campaign grew as a result of Indian celebrities sharing the same “All Eyes on Rafah” photograph on their Instagram stories, including Varun Dhawan, Madhuri Dixit, Aly Goni, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Tripti Dimri, and others. Internationally, celebrities who have expressed support for Rafah include British singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Australian cricket player Travis Head, actresses Saoirse-Monica Jackson and Susan Sarandon, and model Bella Hadid.
The “All Eyes on Rafah” campaign is gaining momentum and boosting the voices of those advocating for peace and justice for Palestinians as the globe keeps an eye on events in Gaza.
