A video comparison of Snapchat stories posted in Tel Aviv, Israel, and the Palestinian territory of Gaza has gone viral on social media.
Violence in Gaza has escalated over the last few days withIsraeli forces striking scores of targets in the Hamas-controlled region with airstrikes in response to hundreds of rockets that were launched by the militant group last week.
Snap Map Comparison of Tel Aviv and Gaza
The clip, originally posted on TikTok by user @obeysyed, uses Snap Map – an interactive Snapchat feature that allows you to view Snapchat stories and posts from around the world – to draw attention to the "stark differences" between life in Israel and war-torn Palestine amid the deadly conflict between both sides.
"Somebody said if you really wanna know the differences of what's going on to go to snap map and see for yourself," the caption reads. The clip starts off by showing glimpses of life in Tel Aviv. In the series of posts, people can be seen walking along the city's La Mer beach as birds chirp in the background while other enjoy brunch as they go about living what appears to be a peaceful, normal life
Meanwhile, stories posted from Gaza, which is about 70 km away from the Israeli city, shows scenes of damaged buildings and rubble on the street in the aftermath of an airstrike with chirping birds replaced by blaring ambulance sirens. In a subsequent clip, a building in the distance can be seen on fire as plumes of smoke emerges from it following an "active strike." Watch the video below:
Other users also shared a similar post showing Israelis dancing at a nightclub while Palestinians are being bombarded in Gaza:
Another shared a post containing two contrasting images, from either side of the conflict but having with the same caption:
Twitter Reactions
The startling contrast between social media posts from both sides instantly went viral on Twitter with hundreds of thousands of likes, retweets and comments from users who criticized Israel for trying to play the victim card in a one-sided conflict.
Here are some of the reactions:
