Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Alia Bhatt

Indian celebrities expressed solidarity with Palestinians as Israel bombed the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

The phrase ‘All eyes on Rafah’ went viral after Israeli airstrikes razed the Rafah refugee camp last Sunday, killing more than 40 civilians, including children, and injuring dozens. There were reports of fresh airstrikes earlier this week.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 24 May ordered Israel to halt its military operations in Rafah.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Varun Dhawan, Tripati Dimri, Richa Chadha, Dia Mirza and other Bollywood actors showed support for the Palestinian people by trending the popular phrase on their social media. From the southern film industries, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Trisha, Dulquer Salmaan, Rashmika Mandanna and others also posted the phrase condemning the attack.

Re-sharing a post from Instagram page ‘The Motherhood Home’, Alia Bhatt wrote #AllEyesOnRafah.”

Priyanka Chopra also shared the ‘All Eyes on Rafa’ template on her Instagram stories. The actress is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Demanding an immediate ceasefire and drawing attention to Israeli war crimes, Richa Chadha wrote on X, “The State of Israel is committing colonial genocide on the starving, dehydrated, trapped population of Gaza. This is the brutal murder of infants, women, pregnant women, innocent civilians, journalists, medical aid workers and doctors. This is genocide, there is no other word for it, and it must be condemned in the clearest terms. If the world only watches, the world is complicit in this. Ceasefire now! End colonialism now!”

Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted a “tragic mistake” had been made after an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah set fire to a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians and killed at least 45 people, according to local officials.

(With AP inputs)