How Rihanna, Madonna got caught in Gaza war

Leave alone politicians, even celebrities are finding themselves caught in the Israel-Gaza Twitter crossfire.   

Pop stars and athletes are going public with their strong views on Gaza, putting their relations with fans on the line while stirring up a social media frenzy. Most of them favour Palestine as the conflict with Israel enters its fourth week taking the toll to over 1,000.

Rediff.com takes a look at famous names, who tweeted a controversy or two.

Singer Rihanna posted an 'unintention' "FreePalestine" tweet. She deleted it just eight minutes later, but some of her 36 million followers grabbed it first.

It was soon replaced by this less divisive message: "Let's pray for peace and a swift end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict! Is there any hope?....

CNN reported that the fast deletion was followed by controversy and debate. One fan tweeted, "What's the point in being rich & famous if you can't publicly stand up for what's right?"

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Dance-pop songstress Selena Gomez caused a stir with an image on her Instagram account that began: "It’s About Humanity. Pray for Gaza.”

According to reports, her post generated 654,000 likes -- but got the racy TMZ.com gossip website asking if the 21-year-old former Disney child star was “pro-humanity or pro-Hamas ..."

"Maybe she doesn’t realise Hamas has launched an untold number of missiles in an effort to destroy Israel, or maybe she supports it,” it said. “We don’t know.” “I am not picking any sides,” she responded on Instagram. “I am praying for peace and humanity for all!"

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Zayn Malik of the British boy band One Direction was the latest bold-face name to voice his concern when he posted “#FreePalestine” on his Twitter account Sunday.

And Malik -- unlike Rihanna -- didn't back down. As of Wednesday, his message had been retweeted 230,000 times, and favourited almost as often, among his 13 million followers worldwide.

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England batsman Moeen Ali has been banned from wearing wristbands featuring the slogans "Save Gaza" and "Free Palestine", the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Tuesday.

Moeen, who is Muslim and of Pakistani descent, helped raise funds for charities working with those affected by the three-week conflict with Israel.

He wore the wristbands on Monday's second day of the third test against India at Southampton.

Moeen, 27, risked disciplinary action under the ICC Code of Conduct, which forbids players wearing, displaying or conveying messages through arm bands or other items on clothing or equipment without prior approval.

Controversial pop star Madonna took to her Facebook to share her two cents, saying, "Conflicts can never be resolved through violence! Cease fire on both sides.. All human life is precious!"

She also posted on Nelson Mandela Day, urging people to "follow in his footsteps". "He fought to end Apartheid in South Africa! Lets pray that there will be no more separation between Palestine and Israel. No more killing of innocent people and that there will be Peace in the Middle East!"

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The Hulk actor Mark Ruffalo tweeted, “Israel destroys el-Wafa hospital as staff evacuates all patients,” along with a link to a news article.

Upon facing backlash for “complaining”, he tweeted, “Sorry, I thought blowing up hospitals was something that all human beings could agree was off limits.”

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Comedian Russell Brand posted a nearly seven minute in-depth video to YouTube on the topic.

"You can have a look at a map of the way that Palestinian territories have been encroached upon since the establishment of the state of Israel, it’s pretty harrowing,” he said. “I think the only way that we can have a positive impact is for the West not to provide military or financial assistance to either side, to condemn violence on both sides and insist on a peaceful solution."