During the Cairo Summit, a decision for an Israeli cease-fire was not effective. Egypt rejected the idea of a corridor to help refugees, and some countries aren’t even providing humanitarian aid. 

However, a few countries were keen to allow humanitarian aid to pass through the Egypt-Gaza border. Food, fuel and water are all being provided to Gaza as of October 13th. The resources are taken through a gate called Rafah at the Egypt-Gaza border.

The Israel-Palestine conflict still rages on, with casualties on both sides. The Rafah gate could potentially be open in the future, but as of now supplies and aid are all that can help.

Aid for Gaza

Many countries have recognized Gaza’s dire situation and have started to take action. Recently 2 planes from the EU that took off from Dubai, UAE, and Ostend, Belgium containing 115 tonnes of assistance supplies that will be transported via road from Al-Arish, Egypt upon the landing of the airplanes in Al-Arish will be taken to Gaza. Al-Arish and Egypt are a very important aspect of bringing aid to Gaza, as currently the only territory in Gaza that isn’t controlled by Israel is the Rafah crossing. Many other countries have been contributing as well, these countries include Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Tunisia, India, Rwanda, Pakistan, the United States, Canada, Germany, and China.

Gaza still requires a lot of different types of aid that it hasn’t yet received and should be receiving soon as part of the EU and UN humanitarian assistance drops. Some of these resources include clean drinking water as the state is starting to lack the amount of clean and safe water they have available. Food is another important resource in Gaza which is scarce. 

Lastly, Doctors are constantly running low on medical aid and will need as much as possible as soon as possible. Not only are hospitals running low on aid, but they are also running on an extremely low amount of fuel and will need a lot more to keep running. For instance, Gaza’s only cancer hospital has requested fuel as part of its aid. An example includes Al-Quds Hospital Gaza which was the second-largest hospital in Gaza that is no longer operational due to a lack of resources.

Hospitals in Gaza have reported that without fuel the generators that are keeping the approximate 120 babies in incubators will also shut off and many innocent babies who possibly haven’t even seen the light of day lose their souls. 

Israel’s Ground Offensive

Israeli forces are expanding ground operations in Gaza, and their ultimate goal is to dismantle Hamas. A ground offensive offers Israel the chance to wrest the Gaza Strip from Hamas's control. Israel's aims appear far more ambitious than anything the military has planned in Gaza before, But are they realistic? The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have also added the task of rescuing 240 hostages, held in unknown locations across Gaza.

"We have set two goals for the war: to eliminate Hamas by destroying its military and governing capabilities and to do everything possible to bring our hostages at home," announced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as Israel expanded its ground operations in Gaza.

Indeed, it is easy to imagine how in the aftermath of what has already been a destructive military operation and promises to be only bloodier as the ground offensive picks up steam, Gaza becomes even more of a breeding ground for Islamic terrorism, if not by Hamas, then by another group.

However, with much of Europe being on Israel’s side due to the mass murder which happened in the Second World War, they’ve decided to ban Pro-Palestine protesting. Germany vowed to support a two-state solution and frequently voiced support for easing tensions in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. More than two-thirds of United Nation (UN) members recognise the State of Palestine, but Germany has refused to acknowledge it. Human rights organizations are therefore concerned about the decline in Western countries expressing support for the Palestinian cause. They argue that governments should uphold the international duty to guarantee freedom of expression and assembly, instead of enacting preemptive, blanket restrictions. 

Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Research in Europe, Esther Major, has stated that the devastating effects of the war are "understandably compelling many people in Europe to protest for the rights of Palestinians," and she has urged European authorities to protect and facilitate everyone's right to express themselves and peacefully assemble. Major stated, "Yet, the authorities are illegally restricting the right to protest in many European countries." For example, the London Metropolitan Police issued a warning in advance that “anyone with a flag in support of Hamas or any other proscribed terrorist organization will be arrested.” The police force had more than 1,000 officers on the ground.

Liberal Muslims such as Ahmad Mansour who was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit and Seyran Ates who founded a liberal mosque which bans face covering and allows men and women to pray together have been face to face with lots of extremism in Germany. They can now see that with the conflict between Hamas and Israel it has grown worse. With almost 80,000 Palestinians residing there, Germany is home to the largest Palestinian community in Europe. German authorities have been trying to quell Palestinian activism in the nation for years, seeing it as an annoyance to their stated aim of providing "unconditional support for Israel." 

2024 will introduce us, Bearcats to new PE uniforms. Teachers of International School Manila in the PE department have been planning new uniforms for the academic session starting next year. The teachers want to make a new uniform for the kind of  comfort, structure, and style we students are looking for. Read on more to find out why this is happening. 

In an interview with Coach Kea (MS PE Teacher), she said that there have been discussions to improve the PE uniform in a way that is modest, and in a way where everyone is comfortable performing physical activity. 

She also stated that ‘The idea is that there will be more options. There hasn't been a final decision as far as I know but the hope is to have both a long and short sleeve option as well as leggings and a couple of different shorts.’

Coach Till (MS Physical Education/Strength and Conditioning Coach/Female Athlete Development Program), stated ‘The entire ISM uniform is being redesigned throughout the school, so with it, the PE uniform is also being updated. The current PE design has been here for well over 7 years and we want to have a design that represents the student's voice and has a more functional design. For example, we are looking at including shorts with pockets and shorts with more cover for students who opt to wear shorter-length shorts.’

The teachers of the PE department have been sending out surveys to develop new T-shirts and shorts. Some of the T-Shirt options are long sleeve, singlet top, fitted, and relaxed. For the shorts, options are longer length shorts, short length shorts, shorts with spandex underneath, leggings, tracksuit pants, and skorts. On the contrary the current PE uniform is just a green & white loose  T-shirt paired with black shorts. 

Please fill out the questionnaire that your teachers have sent you, as they are trying their best to design a uniform which fulfills everyone's needs. The teachers are excited for a change and we hope you all are also excited for this new change? 

Stay tuned as the new year will bring a new PE uniform. 

The rule  states that several requirements must be cleared and it would be unlawful if operators of online services knew that they were collecting personal information online from a child under 13 years of age, which Meta did, contradicting their policies.

Meta also engages users with tactics like infinite scroll, which means you have an endless supply of content, constant notifications to hook you back to the app, and an algorithm to send users down an infinite rabbit hole. These tactics are meant to keep users on for a significant amount of time, which can lead to serious mental health problems. 

Take for example Selena Rodriguez, an 11-year-old with an extreme addiction to social media, A statement Selena’s mother Tammy said,  "On multiple occasions, Selena received mental health treatment for her addiction," the statement said. "One outpatient therapist who evaluated Selena remarked that she had never seen a patient as addicted to social media." Not only being addicted to social media but Selena was also peer-pressured to share exploitative content with classmates, which they then leaked and shared via social media. This led to the deterioration of her mental state, which eventually led to her suicide.

Meta has specific policies to keep their online space appropriate. On the Facebook policies website, it states that anything that has nudity and/or self-harm or sexual harassment would be taken down, but the pictures taken of Selena were not. Again, Meta’s failure to comply with their own rules led to someone taking their own life.

The lawsuit against Meta sheds light on the created by addictive features and failure to follow their own rules. As the lawsuit unfolds it remains to be seen how it might reshape the industry, and hopefully create greater trust from large companies like Meta. Ultimately it might lead to a reexamination of online companies' responsibilities toward their users' mental health and privacy.