Smoke billows from the skyline of Gaza, as charred and injured bodies lie strewn around a destroyed ‘safety zone’ camp. Israel’s military operations in Rafah this week killed 45 civilians and injured hundreds, mostly women and children. In response, outraged international communities are condemning Israeli attacks in Rafah and calling for ceasefire. 

The outcry has been championed on social media through the ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ campaign, shared by over 46 million users including celebrities, activists and politicians, it has brought large-scale attention to the crisis in Gaza. 

Yet, the AI-generated campaign image, devoid of any violence or destruction, has raised criticisms about performative activism and erasing the brutal reality of the Gaza crisis. 

Experts say the image could have been generated by AI to bypass Meta’s content moderation policies and ensure that it doesn’t get taken down for depiction of violence or destruction.

However, the viral image has drawn criticism as many are questioning the ethics of using an AI-generated image that does not show any of the brutalities in Rafah, especially when large amounts of footage of death and destruction are being shared daily by civilians, aid workers and journalists on ground in Gaza. 

Those criticising the trend have blamed the “sanitisation” of the conflict to make it social-media-friendly and risk erasing the truth of how grave of a crisis Palestinians are currently in. The lack of any human beings in the ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ image does not aptly capture the atrocities being committed against the displaced people of Gaza, they argued.

“Palestinians didn’t go through and document the genocide happening just for us to use [an] AI image to raise awareness,” an X user said.

i know people mean well but the palestinians didn’t go through and document the genocide happening just for us to use AI image to raise awareness on what’s happening.

bear witness to their resilience, resistance, and eventual liberation.

all eyes on rafah. free palestine.
pic.twitter.com/vt05ob5vUU

— R (@arhcamt) May 29, 2024

The AI-generated ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ campaign image features unnaturally symmetrical and pristine tent camps with no humans in sight.

Another concern is that the campaign is veering towards performative activism, drawing parallels with the ‘black square’ Black Lives Matter social media trend in 2020. Many are sharing the ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ image without doing anything else to show solidarity with Palestinians. A charged levelled mainly towards celebrities, critics claim that sharing the image after months of silence on the issue may be a way to avoid backlash for not supporting the cause earlier. 

Another X user alleged that celebrities are partaking in the trend because it is “aesthetically pleasing”, “vague and removed from reality”. 

I feel like the main reason celebrities are using this AI image for All Eyes on Rafah is because it’s “aesthetically pleasing” and now seen as trendy. This along with it being vague and removed from reality.

This is not an AI generated genocide. Its real. Use real photos. https://t.co/0VT10udK8B

— Kristin Siân Bingham (@KristinBingham) May 29, 2024

One user labelled the trend as “slacktivism”, and instead urged people to donate and take part in boycotts. 

imagine if every single individual sharing the All Eyes on Rafah post instead shared and donated to the PCRF relief fund. What Palestinians actually need for food, safety and border help. Criticism is totally valid for people ignoring boycotts/donations but sharing AI photos.

— nmm (@niamhmarym) May 28, 2024

To combat this ‘slacktivism’, people have begun sharing actionable ways to support Gazans instead – by signing petitions, joining demonstrations etc. 

If your friends shared the AI “All Eyes On Rafah” pic and it was the first time they’ve done something during this war, encourage them to go to https://t.co/WqnKDia4WR and take 30 seconds and email their elected officials:

— jordan (@JordanUhl) May 29, 2024

Visceral scenes of death and destruction have been the reality for Palestinians since the Israel-Hamas conflict began 8 months ago, and it seems unlikely to end anytime soon. Israel’s announced today that they expect the conflict to continue for another 7 months, until the end of 2024. Amid global protests, student encampments, and boycotts, social media has become another avenue to express dissent. 

Indian cricket captain Rohit Sharma’s wife Ritika Sajdeh was among those who shared the “All Eyes On Rafah” image in her Instagram Stories. The social media campaign, calling for attention to what’s happening in Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, gained momentum after Israeli strikes on Sunday night killed 45 Palestinians at a camp.  

While Ms Sajdeh deleted the post within hours, several users accused her of being “selective” in speaking against oppression and atrocities. 

People have dropped comments on Ms Sajdeh’s birthday post for Rohit Sharma. The India opener turned 37 on April 30.

A person wrote, “Kyun madam? Palestinians se itni humdardi kyu (Why such sympathy with Palestinians, Madam?).”

“As a Rohit Sharma fan … I’m ashamed of you,” said another user.

However, there were a handful of people who lauded Ms Sajdeh for supporting Palestine.

“My respect for Hitman and you after the story,” read a comment.

A user said, “Thank you for supporting Palestine.”

“Respect for Rohit Sharma and his wife” was the sentiment online. 

What Is “All Eyes On Rafah” campaign

Celebs, human rights groups and common men and women have been sharing the “All Eyes On Rafah” image on their social media platforms to raise awareness about the ongoing Israeli onslaught in Gaza. On Monday, after the latest Israeli strikes killed 45 Palestinians at a tent camp, Bollywood celebs, including some A-listers, shared what’s become a global image now.

Among those who extended solidarity with the people of Palestine were Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Triptii Dimri, Samantha Prabhu, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Swara Bhasker, and Dia Mirza, among others.

Among international figures, Australian cricketer Travis Head, British singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock, model Bella Hadid and actresses Saoirse-Monica Jackson and Susan Sarandon also drew attention to Rafah, where roughly 1.5 million Palestinians have sought refuge after fleeing Israeli bombings from other parts of Gaza.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. File
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday defended a decision to pause a delivery to Israel of 3,500 bombs over concerns they could be used in the Gazan city of Rafah, saying Israel lacked a “credible plan” to protect some 1.4 million civilians sheltering there.

Speaking to ABC News’ This Week, Mr. Blinken said that U.S. President Joe Biden remains determined to help Israel defend itself and that the shipment of 3,500 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs was the only U.S. weapons package being withheld.

That could change, he said, if Israel launches a full-scale attack on Rafah.

Mr. Biden has made clear to Israel that if it “launches this major military operation to Rafah, then there are certain systems that we are not going to be supporting and supplying,” Mr. Blinken said.

“We have real concerns about the way they are used,” he said. Israel needs to “have a clear, credible plan to protect civilians, which we have not seen.”

Palestinians prepare to evacuate, after Israeli forces launched a ground and air operation in the eastern part of Rafah, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 11, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Israel ordered new evacuations in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on May 11 as it prepared to expand its operation, saying it was also moving into an area in northern Gaza where Hamas has regrouped.

Fighting is escalating across the enclave with heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of Rafah, leaving the crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible and forcing more than 110,000 people to flee north.

Israel’s move into Rafah has so far been short of the full-scale invasion that it has planned.

The United Nations and other agencies have warned for weeks that an Israeli assault on Rafah, which borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, would cripple humanitarian operations and cause a disastrous surge in civilian casualties. More than 1.4 million Palestinians — half of Gaza’s population — have been sheltering in Rafah, most after fleeing Israel’s offensives elsewhere.

Army spokesman, Avichay Adraee, told Palestinians in Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya cities and the surrounding areas to leave their homes and head to shelters in the west of Gaza City, warning that people were in “a dangerous combat zone” and that Israel was going to strike with “great force”.

Heavy fighting is underway in northern Gaza, where Hamas appeared to have once again regrouped in an area where Israel has already launched punishing assaults. Battles erupted this week in the Zeitoun area on the outskirts of Gaza City, in the northern part of the territory. Northern Gaza was the first target of the ground offensive. Israel said late last year that it had mostly dismantled Hamas in the area.

At least 19 people, including eight women and eight children, were killed overnight in Central Gaza in three different strikes that hit the towns of Zawaida, Maghazi and Deir al Balah, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah and an Associated Press journalist who counted the bodies.

Israel’s bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 34,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures.

Much of Gaza has been destroyed and some 80% of Gaza’s population has been driven from their homes.

Cairo:

Hamas negotiators began intensified talks on Saturday on a possible Gaza truce that would see the return to Israel of some hostages, a Hamas official told Reuters, with the CIA director present in Cairo.

The Hamas delegation arrived from the Palestinian Islamist movement’s political office in Qatar, which, along with Egypt, has tried to mediate a follow-up to a brief November ceasefire amid international dismay over the soaring death count in Gaza and the plight of its 2.3 million inhabitants.

Taher Al-Nono, a Hamas official and advisor to Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, said meetings with Egyptian and Qatari mediators had begun and Hamas was addressing their proposals “with full seriousness and responsibility”.

However, he reiterated a demand that any deal should include an Israeli pullout from Gaza and an end to the war, conditions that Israel has previously rejected.

“Any agreement to be reached must include our national demands; the complete and permanent ending of the aggression, the full and complete withdrawal of the occupation from Gaza Strip, the return of the displaced to their homes without restriction and a real prisoner swap deal, in addition to the reconstruction and ending the blockade,” Nono told Reuters.

An Israeli official signalled Israel’s core position was unchanged, saying it would “under no circumstances” agree to end the war in a deal to free hostages.

The war began after Hamas stunned Israel with a cross-border raid on October 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and 252 hostages taken, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed – 32 of them in the most recent 24-hour period – and more than 77,000 have been wounded in Israel’s assault, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The bombardment has devastated much of the enclave.

While the meetings in Cairo were underway, Israeli forces said they had killed Aiman Zaarab, who they said had been a leader of Islamic Jihad forces in southern Gaza and taken part in the October 7 attack.

HOPE GROWS FOR TRUCE DEAL

Before the talks began there had been some optimism.

“Things look better this time but whether an agreement is on hand would depend on whether Israel has offered what it takes for that to happen,” a Palestinian official with knowledge of the mediation efforts, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

Washington – which, like other Western powers and Israel, brands Hamas a terrorist group – has urged it to enter a deal.

Progress has stumbled, however, over Hamas’ long-standing demand for a commitment to end the offensive. Israel insists that after any truce it would resume operations designed to disarm and dismantle the faction.

Hamas said on Friday it would come to Cairo in a “positive spirit” after studying the latest proposal, little of which has been made public.

Israel has given a preliminary nod to terms that one source said included the return of between 20 and 33 hostages in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and a truce of several weeks.

That would leave around 100 hostages in Gaza, some of whom Israel says have died in captivity. The source, who asked not to be identified by name or nationality, told Reuters their return may require an additional deal.

“That could entail a de facto, if not formal, end to the war – unless Israel somehow recovers them through force or generates enough military pressure to make Hamas relent,” the source said.

Egyptian sources said CIA Director William Burns arrived in Cairo on Friday. He has been involved in previous truce talks and Washington has signalled there may be progress this time.

The CIA declined to comment on Burns’ itinerary.

Cairo made a new push to revive talks late last month, alarmed by the prospect of an Israeli assault against Hamas in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have taken shelter near the border with Egypt.

Such an Israeli operation could derail fragile humanitarian operations in Gaza and endanger many more lives, according to U.N. officials. Israel says it will not be deterred from taking Rafah eventually, and is working on a plan to evacuate civilians.

Saturday’s Cairo talks come as Qatar reviews its role as mediator, according to an official familiar with Doha’s thinking. Qatar may cease hosting the Hamas political office, said the official, who did not know if, in such a scenario, the Palestinian group’s delegates might also be asked to leave.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)