Viral ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ Image Came From Facebook Group to Make ‘AI Industry Prosper’.

The current progress of the Israel–Hamas war is an extremely delicate situation in many respects, which prompted the people of the Internet to share their support for the victims of this clash. In order to convey attention to the situation in Rafah, the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip, the slogan ‘All Eyes on Rafah’, accompanied by a specific image, was thus born.

Social media subsequently became fertile ground for the sharing of this image, reaching millions of users and gaining some attention. A few days after its sudden popularity, however, a rather controversial detail was noticed: the image is artificially generated. Through research, its origins were discovered.

Initially posted in a Facebook group called ‘Malaya Prompters’, the image belonged to Zila AbKa, an active participant in the online group, and was posted during the month of February 2024.