'All eyes on Rafah' image shared 44 million times online - Times of India

Source: The Times of India
Author: Toi World Desk

NEW DELHI: An AI-generated image with the caption "All eyes on Rafah" has gone viral on Instagram, shared by over 44 million accounts since Monday following a deadly Israeli strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza.

The image depicts a vast desert landscape filled with countless rows of tents, symbolizing the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who sought refuge there during Israel's military operation against Hamas.

Meanwhile, celebrities such as Chilean-US actor Pedro Pascal, top models Bella and Gigi Hadid, who have Palestinian roots, and French football player Ousmane Dembele have shared the image on their Instagram accounts.

Indian celebrities Priyanka Chopra, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor and many others, including Sonam Kapoor, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Konkona Sen Sharma, Atlee, Vir Das, Dia Mirza, Triptii Dimri, Shilpa Rao, Bhumi Pednekar and Rakul Preet Singh, also shared the picture on their social media profiles.

Additionally, the phrase "All eyes on Rafah" has also gained significant traction on other social media platforms, particularly X (formerly Twitter), where the hashtag #alleyesonrafah has garnered nearly one million hits, as reported by online monitor Visibrain. Moreover, X has seen 27.5 million messages posted in just three days regarding the attack on the southern Gazan city near the Egyptian border, which sparked international outrage.

An Israeli strike on the camp on Sunday caused a fire that claimed the lives of 45 people and injured 249 others, as claimed by Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry The Israeli military stated that it had targeted and killed two high-ranking Hamas militants, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referring to the incident as a "tragic accident" that his government was investigating.

The Israel-Hamas conflict was triggered by Hamas's attack on southern Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, primarily civilians, and holding 252 hostages, 121 of whom are still in Gaza. The Israeli army reported that 37 of them have died.

In response, Israel's retaliatory offensive has claimed the lives of at least 36,171 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, as reported by the Hamas-run health ministry.

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