At least 36 million people on Instagram have shared the ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ AI generated image as of Wednesday, May 29. This follows the horrific civilian casualties in Rafah after a deadly Israeli airstrike amid the Israel-Palestine conflict. Rafah is situated in the far south of the Gaza Strip and borders Egypt. It is a place many Palestinians fled to at the start of the conflict to escape Israeli bombardment.
The May 27 attack hit a camp for displaced people in north-west Rafah, a site that is in a designated humanitarian safe zone, Gaza civil defence and Palestinian authorities said. Women and children were among those killed, and several people were also injured. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu labelled the strike a “tragic mistake.”
The post aims to draw attention to the situation in Rafah as Israel’s assault continues. But why an AI-generated image? Instagram and other social media platforms, majorly META-owned, have been deleting posts about the Israeli-Palestine conflict, saying the horrendous images go against the platforms’ community guidelines due to their sensitivity.
The ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ phrase, which is originally from Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) representative in Gaza, is more than just a trend; it is a plea for awareness. It shines a light on the atrocities and human rights violations being committed against particularly vulnerable groups like women and children.
