People gather in Paris on Monday to show support to Palestinians after a deadly Israeli strike on a displacement camp in Rafah in southern Gaza. “All eyes on Rafah,” reads the image. The words are spelled out in rows of white tents, a backdrop of mountains in the distance.
Felix M. Simon, a communication researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, said he was “confident” that the viral image “was generated with the help of AI,” noting that the image “bears various visual hallmarks that are typical for AI systems — especially a certain blurriness.”In reality, there are no cleanly cut rows of tents or a sloping snow-topped mountain near Rafah’s encampments. Tents sit among fields and buildings, and the area is dotted with palm trees and the occasional sandy hill.
Rafah, now a focal point in the war between Israel and Hamas, had become a last refuge for about 1 million Palestinians fleeing the fighting elsewhere. Israel ramped up ground and aerial operations in the area in early May, leaving those displaced there with nowhere to go, activists say.
He added people may also share the image because it drives awareness on the issue, and media headlines, which can bring about change.Sima Ajlyakin, a Cairo-based photographer, shared the photo on her Instagram account before deleting it, after questioning what posting the image would achieve. It is the real, gutting photographs that enable those outside Gaza to witness what is happening inside, she said.