Israel-Hamas war: AI-generated image countering 'All eyes on Rafah' campaign taken down from Instagram without explanation

An AI-generated image supporting Israel was taken down from Instagram without any explanation. It was made in response to a pro-Palestinian campaign 'All eyes on Rafah' on social media.

After a pro-Palestinian AI-generated image with the caption "All eyes on Rafah" was shared tens of millions of times on social media in recent days, the image took off and became viral online.

Benjamin Jamon used AI to produce a similar graphic that asked, "Where were your eyes on October 7?" in response to the pro-Palestinian campaign. It was shared by multiple people.

The Biden administration declared on Tuesday that it maintained a close eye on the investigation into a terrible and fatal Israeli attack, but that the killings that occurred recently in Rafah did not amount to a significant ground operation that violates US red lines.

When asked whether the events of the past weekend qualified as the kind of "death and destruction" that US officials had warned could result in the withholding of more aid to Israel, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the White House, "The Israelis have said this is a tragic mistake." The United States lacks "a measuring stick here or a quota," according to Kirby.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s national security adviser said on Wednesday that the Gaza war will not end this year and will continue until early 2025. 

Tzachi Hanegbi told the Israeli public broadcaster KAN that the war is expected to continue for another seven months. 

As quoted, he said that the Israeli army "is now in control of 75% of the Philadelphi Route". 

"I  believe we will be in control of it all with time. Together with the Egyptians, we must ensure weapon smuggling is prevented from Egypt into Gaza," Hanegbi added.

Spain welcomed Palestinian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Mustafa and other foreign ministers of the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee on Gaza in Madrid on Wednesday (May 29) to highlight the importance of recognising the Palestinian state as part of the road to peace, Spanish Foreign Minister Albares said. 

The meeting took place a day after Spain, Ireland and Norway recognised Palestine as a state.

Brazil has recalled its ambassador to Israel and will not immediately appoint a replacement, a diplomatic source told AFP Wednesday, ratcheting up tensions between the two countries over Israel's war in Gaza.

Frederico Meyer was initially recalled for consultations with his government after Brazil and Israel exchanged harsh statements in February over the conflict. "There were no conditions for him to return" to Israel, the source said Wednesday.

President Xi Jinping told his Egyptian counterpart on Wednesday that China was "deeply pained" by the "extremely severe" situation in Gaza, according to state media. 

"The current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has caused a large number of innocent Palestinian civilian casualties and the humanitarian situation in Gaza is extremely severe. China is deeply pained," Xi told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Beijing, state broadcaster CCTV said. 

Members of the Palestinian Civil Defence were seen trying to rescue a wounded man in Rafah on Tuesday (May 28) as the sound of gunfire rang through the air. Video obtained by Reuters shows the wounded man being rescued and then arriving at the Emirati Hospital in an ambulance.

On Wednesday (May 29) the Emirati Hospital, in Rafah's Tel Al-Sultan, was hit by Israeli forces, the Palestinian Civil Defence said. Reuters could not independently verify the claims.

French special envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian holds talks in Beirut with Mohammed Raad, the head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, during a two-day visit to Lebanon. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday hit out at the United Nations after the latest deadly Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

"The UN cannot even protect its own staff. What are you waiting for to act? The spirit of the United Nations is dead in Gaza," Erdogan told lawmakers from his AKP party.

United Kingdom's police said that 40 people were arrested and three officers suffered injuries after anti-Israel protesters refused to disperse amid protests against the Rafah offensive in London. 

London's Metropolitan Police Service said the people were arrested for committing offences which included breaching public order conditions, obstructing roads and assaulting emergency workers.

It stated that two officers suffered minor injuries after they were assaulted and a third was hit by a bottle which was thrown by the crowd and he suffered a “serious facial injury". 

Former US presidential hopeful Nikki Haley was seen writing "Finish Them" on an Israeli shell during her visit to Israel. Haley, who once served as the US ambassador to the United Nations, is now facing severe criticism on and off the social media for this act.

Haley has not yet clarified what she implied and whom did she intended to get finished during her Memorial Day visit to Israel's north bordering Lebanon. 

But in a post from Danny Danon, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations who accompanied her on the trip, Haley can be seen writing the phrase 'Finish Them' on an Israeli artillery shell.

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The medical supplies were delivered by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza in their first mission to the enclave's northern part in two weeks, said Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

"Amid ongoing intense hostilities, WHO and partners still managed to reach Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City. The first mission to the north of the Strip since 13 May," said Tedros.

He said that "15,000L of fuel, 14 hospital beds, medicines and trauma supplies to cover the needs of 1,500 people" were delivered.

"Al-Ahli hospital is serving twice the number of people it is designed for, lacking essential surgical supplies. No lifesaving surgery can be performed in the evening due to the lack of specialised staff," Tedros added.

Saudi Arabia has "condemned and denounced in the strongest terms" the strikes carried out by Israel on Rafah in southern Gaza in which dozens of Palestinians were killed.

"The Kingdom holds the Israeli authorities fully responsible for what is happening in Rafah," said Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry. "The Kingdom stresses the need for the international community to assume its responsibilities today more than ever before," it added.
 

Social media has been flooded with the phrase "All eyes on Rafah" as people from across the world are coming out in support of Palestinians who are facing a dire situation in Rafah city of war-torn Gaza.

The slogan 'All Eyes On Rafah' seems to have come into existence from a comment made by World Health Organization’s Office of the Occupied Palestinian Territories director Rick Peeperkorn.

In February, Peeperkorn said "All eyes are on Rafah" days after an evacuation plan was ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before implementing the planned attacks to eliminate militant group Hamas' strongholds.

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World Central Kitchen (WCK) announced that it has paused its operations at its main kitchen in Rafah because of "ongoing attacks" by Israeli army.

"In the face of Israeli operations in Rafah, countless families are being forced to flee once again. Ongoing attacks have forced us to pause work at our main kitchen in Rafah and relocate many of our community kitchens further north," WCK stated.
 
"The situation is dire but WCK's Palestinian team—all directly impacted by the war—is showing up every day to support neighbours in need," the post said, adding that almost 100,000 meals were provided a day earlier and would "increase capacity this week as 58 of our aid trucks have entered Gaza since Sunday," it added.

Dozens of people gathered outside the Israeli embassy in Mexico City on Tuesday night as part of a pro-Palestinian protest that led to clashes with police. Protesters, some wearing faces coverings, were demonstrating against what they said was the escalating actions of Israeli forces in Gaza.
 

Spain's foreign minister condemned as "scandalous and execrable" a video posted by his Israeli counterpart suggesting Hamas would be grateful to Spain, in a growing spat between the two countries over the Gaza war.

Spain last week announced it would recognise Palestine as a state and in recent days two Spanish government ministers referred to a genocide in Gaza.

A short video posted by Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz on the social media platform X on Sunday says "Hamas: Gracias Espana" ("Hamas: Thanks Spain").

The video shows the Spanish flag then a couple dancing to flamenco music. Film of Hamas fighters is interspersed including people fleeing during the Oct 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel that triggered Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

A report by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy identified the Bafrayung Fund as the sponsor of pro-Palestinian campus activist groups. The fund is linked to Rachel Gelman, a 33-year-old Bay Area resident and a descendant of the Levi Strauss family, who is also a cousin of Representative Dan Goldman. 
 

Israel has put forward a new cease-fire proposal and hostage release deal on Monday, which has now been passed on to Hamas, an Egyptian security source told ABC News. Now, the mediators are awaiting a response from Hamas within 24 hours, it added. 

US military is temporarily removing the humanitarian aid pier off Gaza's coast after the structure broke off, as per a statement by the Pentagon on Tuesday (May 28). 

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Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a militant group which is active in Gaza, dropped a hostage video of an Israeli Amazon employee on Tuesday (May 28) from Gaza. 

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The union representing student workers of the University of California have escalated a labor standoff to include three campuses. Workers walked off the job Tuesday at UCLA and UC Davis, joining those who began picketing last week at UC Santa Cruz.
 

Israel's military offensive in Rafah is already taking a dire health toll in southern Gaza, and if it continues, "substantial" increases in deaths can be expected, a top WHO official warned Tuesday. Since Israel launched its long-threatened Rafah incursion in early May, access to healthcare in Gaza's southernmost city has been devastated, said Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization's representative in the Palestinian territories. Speaking to AFP and Reuters in a joint interview in Geneva, he pointed to the around one million people on the move since the incursion, which has left two of Rafah's three hospitals completely disfunctional.
 

Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris hails an "act of powerful political and symbolic value" after Ireland, Spain and Norway formally recognise a Palestinian state in a coordinated decision. Speaking in parliament, Harris says "we wanted to reaffirm our belief that peace is possible, that justice is achievable, and that recognition of both states - Palestine and Israel - is the only cornerstone upon which that peace must be built." 

An Egyptian security delegation is trying in coordination with Qatar and the U.S. to reactivate talks to reach a truce in Gaza and release hostages, Egypt's state-affiliated Al-Qahera News TV channel said on Tuesday, citing a senior official.

The official said Egypt took a firm stance against dealing with the issue of reopening the Rafah crossing with Gaza except with Palestinian and international parties, and not with Israel, whose forces seized the crossing in early May.
 

Pro-Palestinian protesters clash with police during a demonstration near the Israeli embassy in Mexico City. Demonstrators throw metal objects and stones at police, who respond with pepper spray and tear gas.

Missile attacks twice damaged a Marshall Islands-flagged, Greek-owned ship Tuesday in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, with a private security firm saying radio traffic suggested the vessel took on water after being struck.

No group has claimed responsibility, but suspicion falls on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have launched a number of attacks targeting ships over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
 

Algeria proposed a draft UN Security Council resolution that demands a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the release of all hostages held by Hamas and essentially orders Israel to "immediately halt its military offensive" in Rafah. 

Algeria's U.N. Ambassador Amar Bendjama said earlier on Tuesday - after a closed-door meeting of the 15-member U.N. security body on Gaza - that the aim of the move was to "stop the killing in Rafah."

Israel's military has refuted claims that its forces were responsible for an attack in an evacuation area in west Rafah on Tuesday (May 28) that resulted in the killing of 21 people as per Gaza health authorities. 

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Pro-Palestinian protesters staged a protest at a main train station in Bologna, Italy on Tuesday (May 28) to call for an end to the Gaza war. Footage shared by an eyewitness waiting for a train showed a large number of demonstrators chanting “Palestine will be free” and waving Palestinian flags. The protest caused travel delays across the region, according to media reports.