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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has formally ordered Israel to stop their offensive in Rafah immediately, making a new ruling in The Hague yesterday.
The ICJ declared that Israel's invasion of Rafah was unlawful, and needs to be stopped as soon as possible. After the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) invaded northern Gaza as retaliation for Hamas' October 7 attacks, the entire region has been left in ruins. Extreme famine is taking place, and most buildings have been reduced to rubble as Israel attempts to root out every member of Hamas to obliterate the organization completely. Now, they believe that Hamas operatives are hiding amongst the 1,000,000+ Palestinians in the major refugee camp of Rafah, and have begun an offensive into the area.
Countries all over the world have been urging Israel to stop, and more and more people are beginning to become worried for the safety of the remaining Palestinians in Gaza. The only exception to that is the United States, which has consistently sided with Israel this entire time. However, protests at various universities and venues have been ramping up, leading President Joe Biden to halt a massive shipment of bombs to make sure that civilians will stay safe in this new offensive. He has also stated that he wants Israel to avoid a full-scale invasion of the city, but instead try and root out the Hamas operatives without too much violence and as few civilian casualities as possible. The IDF have not entered the heart of Rafah yet, but they are slowly closing in on the denser urban areas. Over 900,000 people have already fled the city to nearby areas, but over 100,000 are still in Rafah.
Rafah is also a crucial border crossing for trucks of aid and supplies to enter Gaza, and over 600 trucks a day need to be flowing in to various areas across the strip to help prevent the severe famine in the north from spreading. They have rerouted the shipments to the nearby crossing of Kerem Shalom after Israel took control of Rafah, but it remains dangerous for aid workers moving supplies into Gaza.
Unfortunately, similar to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the ICJ has no power to force Israel to stop their offensive. They also commanded for Israel to provide more aid to Palestinians and allow investigators to search Gaza for evidence or war crimes, but the court cannot force Israel to execute these orders.
Israel has not commented on the ruling and continues to steam ahead with the Rafah offensive. However, if the ICC agrees to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, it could make their lives a whole lot harder (diplomatically, at least).
Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): In a study by a team at Johns Hopkins University, they found that over 250,000 deaths in the United States are caused by errors at the hospital every year. That makes medical error the third leading cause of death in the country.
Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor. (Truman Capote)
Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Ebullient (adj) - If someone or something is appealingly lively and enthusiastic, they may also be described as ebullient.
In a Sentence: Akua's ebullient personality made her the life of the party.
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