Why ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ is taking over social media – Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Varun Dhawan, Travis Head share posts

Several actors and celebrities have shared ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ posts condemning Israel’s attack on the Gazan city of Rafah.

By: Trends Desk

New Delhi | May 29, 2024 11:57 AM IST

3 min read

The AI-generated image depicting the situation in Rafah. Cricketer Travis Head shares picture where a pair of his sport shoes have the phrases, "Freedom is a human right," and "All lives are equal."

On May 26, Israeli air forces launched an airstrike that killed at least 45 people in a tented area in the Gazan city of Rafah, sparking outrage across the world as it came despite an order by the United Nations’ top court asking Israel to “immediately halt” its military offensive.

The phrase ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ has now flooded social media. On Instagram alone, an AI-generated image depicting the situation in Rafah has been shared over 33 million times. The image shows tents in a camp forming the words ‘All Eyes on Rafah’, referring to an area in the southern part of Gaza filled with refugee tent camps.

Several celebrities, including actors Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Varun Dhawan and Vijay Verma, singer Perrie Edwards and cricketer Travis Head, have shared Instagram stories and posts on X with the phrase ‘All Eyes on Rafah’, condemning Israel’s bombing of the designated safe zone in Rafah.

Ritika Sajdeh, wife of cricketer Rohit Sharma, initially posted an ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ post to express solidarity with Palestine. However, she later deleted it after being trolled on X. Some accused her of not addressing Indian issues, while others joked about her alleged ignorance of Rafah’s location. According to CNBC, the story has now been deleted.

The phrase ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ comes from a comment made by Dr Rick Peeperkorn, director of WHO’s Office of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), in February 2024. As tensions mounted in Rafah and more than 1.5 million refugees moved into the city, Peeperkorn warned it would be an “unfathomable catastrophe” if an Israeli attack occurred there. During a WHO press briefing from Rafah, he stated, “All Eyes are on Rafah.”

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According to various reports, Israel has been conducting military operations in Rafah for the past two weeks, asserting that entering Rafah and launching an attack was necessary to fulfil its mission of defeating Hamas.

The hashtag #AllEyesOnRafah has garnered over 195,000 posts and millions of views on TikTok. It trended on Instagram on Tuesday, accumulating nearly 100,000 posts.

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