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Iranian artists join ‘All Eyes On Rafah’ as Israel ramps up deadly attacks
An image depicting tents in a camp arranged to spell out “All Eyes on Rafah,” an area in the south of Gaza filled with refugee tent camps – where at least 45 civilians died after an Israeli strike on Sunday – has gone viral on social media.
The phrase holds significance as Israel’s war on Gaza continues despite the major global outcry. “’All eyes on Rafah’ is a phrase that refers to the ongoing genocide in Rafah, Gaza, with over 1.4 million Palestinians seeking shelter,” Iran’s Embassy in India had earlier shared.
The image, which appears to be AI-generated, was shared more than 37 million times in less than 24 hours.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the country’s parliament in Hebrew that the casualties were a “tragic mishap”; his office presented clarifying comments in English that translated the phrase as “tragic incident.”
The image has been shared primarily through Instagram’s stories feature, with influencers, athletes and celebrities — including “Bridgerton” star Nicola Coughlan, singer-songwriter Kehlani and one of India’s top actors, Varun Dhawan — posting the image.
American singer Kehlani Ashley Parrish, Egyptian singer Bushra Rozza, American actress Marcia Cross, an, Syrian singer Faia Younan, and British singer and actress Leona Lewis are among the international celebrities who have shared the image on their Instagram pages.
The “All Eyes on Rafah” image does not portray the violence actually occurring on the ground, while it does echo the other content that has repeatedly gone viral and been endorsed by highly followed people on social media over the past eight months.
“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.”