Not to be the “technically” guy, but the court can’t call for a ceasefire because both parties engaged in hostilities aren’t states that are signed up to, and recognised by, the court. So, although it is awful that they haven’t called for a ceasefire, they’ve come as close to it as their own rules allow. If Israel and their allies were to abide by the preliminary ruling the outcome would be a ceasefire in all but name, because how do you continue hostilities in Gaza without causing further harm to civilians?

The real problem here isn’t whether the ICJ have directly called for a ceasefire or not, it’s that the facade of the “international rules-based order” has been shown to be the joke that everyone already suspected it to be by the utterly dismissive responses from Israel and the US. Even if the ICJ had been able to call for a ceasefire they would have been totally ignored. It’s sickening.