Selena Gomez Shocks Fans With 'Pray For Gaza' Instagram, Follows In Wake of Rihanna's 'Free Palestine' Tweet (Photo)

Selena Gomez has followed in the footsteps of Rihanna and is embroiled in her own social media controversy.

The singer sparked some debate when she posted a image on her Instagram Friday which read, "It's About Humanity. Pray for Gaza." The caption read, "Please pray for those families and babies today. Please always remember what's important in life. It's not any of this. We are here to help, inspire and love. Be that change. #wearethenextgeneration."

Fan reaction was mixed: Instagram user nicolenourian wrote, "Are you serious Selena?... posting this goes against all your Jewish fans. I am so insulted and disgusted right now," while follower Lily.Kh simply said, "Unfollowed." Others rushed to defend her, while other just repeated the hashtag, #prayforgaza.

The death toll in Gaza is 330 and rising at the time of the post.

To clarify herself, she posted a second Instagram shot with a woman meditating by the ocean. The caption read, "And of course to be clear, I am not picking any sides. I am praying for peace and humanity for all!"

Pop star Rihanna posted a similar message on her Twitter account earlier in the week, "#FreePalestine," and also garnered much anger from fans. A source told gossip site TMZ she didn't mean to make the hashtag public and was just reading about the conflict when she mistakenly tweeted it.

The source said, "She deleted it because it was never meant to be tweeted," the source explained. "She didn't even realize it was a tweet until she started hearing from her fans."

Via, E! News