An AI-generated image bringing attention to the attack on Rafah has gone viral, with nearly 45 million Instagram users sharing the image on their accounts. Celebrities, including Gigi and Bella Hadid, Dua Lipa and Nicola Coughlan, also shared the post. The AI image read “All Eyes on Rafah” in large letters surrounded by what seems to be a display of tent camps in which displaced Palestinians have been living. 

This sparked a massive outpour of posts, shares, and increased attention on the situation in Rafah. 

Following a deadly attack on the region, people across the globe have shared their dissent regarding the killing of innocent civilians.

Videos of the attack surfaced on social media, capturing the flames that engulfed the area, bodies being pulled from the fire and charred remains of what previously existed before the strikes. 

Rafah, a region that once stood as a safe humanitarian zone, sits nears the Egyptian border on the southern Gaza strip. According to reports, it has been subjected to severe bombing by Israel. Reports state that at least 45 Palestinians have been killed in Rafah thus far. 

Sarah Jackson, an associate professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, told Time Magazine that Internet activism began in the 90s with the Zapatista Uprising. The Internet became a place for information to be shared. Instagram, and platforms like TikTok and X, have become places used to push social change. 

“One of the really important things that we have to acknowledge is that a lot of Palestinian journalists have been using Instagram to share from the ground what has been happening,” she said in a Time report. “We know that a lot of those journalists have been directly targeted and censored because of that, but this has been a platform that has been popular with them.” 

Activists have become aware of reports of shadow banning content regarding Gaza.

“Many of the images that are coming from the ground are really graphic and gruesome,” Jackson told Time. “It has been harder and harder for people to actually document what’s happening… and when compelling images are documented, they are often censored at the platform level… it makes sense that folks would turn to AI.”

The AI-image first shared by Instagram user @ shahv4012 on their story reached a viral level of support, while also receiving some criticism.

Faiza Hirji, an associate professor at Ontario’s McMaster University, told CNN that another reason for the image’s popularity is because of its “sanitized” presentation, rather than a legitimate image of the war, which could result in its suppression or shadow banning. The image also has an “add yours” feature that aids in its quick reposting.

In the Instagram story, this user said, “There are people who are not satisfied with the picture and template. I apologize if I have made a mistake on all of you. Whatever [you do], don’t look down on the Rafah issue now, spread it so that they are shaken and afraid of the spread of all of us.”

The World Health Organization representative for Gaza, Richard Peeperkorn, previously said that “all eyes” were watching what was unfolding in Rafah, and claims have been made that the AI-image coined the slogan from his words. 

Other artists, including Macklemore and Kehlani, have been vocal about their support for Palestine, both sharing and reposting content on their social media accounts. 

Macklemore recently released a song called “Hind’s Hall” honoring the 6-year-old Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. 

“Hind’s Hall” was coined by students at Columbia University for the academic building, Hamilton Hall. According to Aljazeera, this hall has a long history of being a pivotal piece of student protests. Macklemore’s song recognizes Rajab as well as the college students across the nation who have engaged in peaceful protest.