More than 40 million Instagram users have shared this graphic to their stories using a user-generated template in recent days, according to Instagram. The viral graphic appeared after a deadly Israeli strike Sunday on a tent encampment for displaced in Rafah in southern Gaza, which killed 45 and elicited worldwide outrage.
Unlike other graphic imagery the war that has gone viral, this image is likely to have been generated by artificial intelligence. Some on social media have criticized the image as replacing distressing footage of what’s actually happening in Gaza — from photographers and on the ground — with a fake image generated by technology.
Here’s what we know the image, and where the phrase comes from.
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. Footage from the deadly Sunday night strike showed a very different Rafah from that depicted in the viral image: red flames tearing through fabric, bodies charred beyond recognition, a man carrying a headless child.
Simon noted that if the image were real, other images depicting the same scene would be available, given the size of the depicted camp and the international focus on it.
In the Gaza Strip, Israel has waged one of this century’s most destructive wars, killing tens of thousands and plunging at least half of the population into “famine-like conditions.” For months, Israel has resisted pressure from Western allies to allow more humanitarian aid into the enclave.
Despite tensions between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some U.S. politicians, including President Biden, the United States supports Israel with weapons, funds aid packages, and has vetoed or abstained from the United Nations’ cease-fire resolutions.
The roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mistrust are deep and complex, predating the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Read more on the history of the Gaza Strip.
