Amnesty International accused Israel Thursday of “committing genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza since the start of the war last year, saying its new report was a “wake-up call” for the world. The London-based rights organisation said its findings were based on satellite images documenting devastation, fieldwork and ground reports from Gazans as well as “dehumanising and genocidal statements by Israeli government and military officials”.

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The German chancellor claims his government’s employment scheme has partially succeed, but can improve

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said he wants as many Ukrainian refugees as possible to land a job in the country. The official also dismissed criticisms suggesting that his government’s efforts to bolster employment among these recent arrivals have failed.

Europe’s economic powerhouse has emerged as a prime destination for Ukrainian refugees in the EU since the conflict between Moscow and Kiev escalated in February 2022. According to various estimates, more than a million people from the Eastern European country are currently residing in Germany.

In late October, Stern magazine estimated that approximately 720,000 Ukrainians were receiving ‘Burgergeld’, or citizen’s benefits, reportedly costing the German taxpayers €539 million per month.

During a Q&A session in the German parliament on Wednesday, an opposition MP from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) called into question the effectiveness of the government’s ‘Job Turbo’ employment scheme, aimed at Ukrainian refugees in particular. Scholz responded by claiming that the initiative has raised the number of working refugees, while acknowledging that “this cannot suffice yet.”

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Quarter of Ukrainians in EU don’t plan to return home – survey

The chancellor stated that “so many [refugees] have been [staying] here for so long, and they must actually get started now.” He pointed out that he has discussed the issue at length with Vladimir Zelensky, who Scholz says is planning to “establish a Ukrainian agency in Germany and in Poland, which would support Ukrainians either in their return [home] or in employment in Germany.”

“We must look at ways to ensure that as many [Ukrainian refugees] as possible look for work after all the measures toward language acquisition and other things have taken place,” the chancellor concluded.

In September, Scholz had stated that “it is my wish that [Ukrainians] work.”

The following month, Stern, citing analysis by the Federal Audit Office, reported that the government’s ‘Job Turbo’ initiative had largely failed, accounting for “less than one percent of recruitments [among refugees] registered in 2024.”

The media outlet quoted the auditors’ analysis as highlighting “considerable deficiencies in job-centers’ integration efforts,” with counseling actually having been provided in around a third of the cases this year. This, in turn, has reportedly led to refugees increasingly dropping out of the integration courses.
Launched last October, Job Turbo was touted as a tool that could wean as many as 400,000 refugees, both from Ukraine and elsewhere, off government handouts.

According to Stern, as of June 2024, only 30% of Ukrainian refugees were employed in Germany – far below the figures recorded in neighboring countries.

Artist Igor Dobrowolski is ensuring pro-Palestinian messages have a place in Poland.

US political scientist Stephen Zunes argues that the only way to stop Israeli war crimes is to change US policy.

French President Emmanuel Macron met allies and parliament leaders on Thursday as he sought to swiftly appoint a new prime minister to replace Michel Barnier, who officially resigned a day after opposition lawmakers voted to topple his government. Barnier, a veteran conservative whom Macron appointed prime minister barely three months ago, became the shortest-serving prime minister in modern French history after he failed to find enough support for a budget aimed at taming a wide deficit. FRANCE 24’s French Politics Editor Marc Perelman.

Syrian rebels led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captured the key city of Hama on Thursday, bringing the insurgents a major victory after a lightning advance across northern Syria and dealing a new blow to President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies. FRANCE 24’s Expert Wassim Nasr tells us more about the main challenges facing the rebels.

The Jewish state is intent on “physically destroying” Palestinians, Amnesty International has claimed

Human rights group Amnesty International has accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a damning report released on Thursday.

Titled ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza’, the document describes the “killing of civilians, destruction of civilian infrastructure, forcible displacement, the obstruction or denial of life-saving goods and humanitarian aid by Israel in Gaza” since October last year.

Hostilities between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian enclave flared up when the militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,100 people and taking more than 200 hostages. The massive military retaliation by Israel has claimed more than 44,5000 lives in the enclave, according to Gaza health officials.

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Israel committing ‘war crimes’ – former defense minister

Israel’s relentless destruction in Gaza has caused the displacement of about 1.9 million Palestinians – more than 90% of the territory’s population, according to the UN.

“Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International. Israel has been acting “with total impunity,” she added.

Since the start of the Hamas-Israel war, multiple international organizations have accused Israel of inhumane actions in Gaza.

Last month the UN Human Rights Office reported that nearly 70% of verified victims over a six-month period were women and children. The number raised concerns of “war crimes and other possible atrocity crimes,” the agency said.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant last month, accusing them of criminal responsibility for acts including murder, persecution and starvation used as a weapon of war “against the civilian population of Gaza”.

”Israel rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions leveled against it by ICC,” Netanyahu said in response at the time.

Israeli officials have argued that their actions in Gaza are lawful, and justified by the military goal of eradicating Hamas.

Also in November, the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, called for an investigation to determine whether Israel’s attacks on Gaza amounted to genocide of the Palestinian people.

READ MORE: Pope urges inquiry into Gaza genocide allegations

In its report on Thursday, Amnesty International warned Israel’s key arms suppliers, the US and Germany, that they are “violating their obligation to prevent genocide” and “becoming complicit.”

It urged them, as well as other EU member states and the UK, to “act now to bring Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza to an immediate end.”

Macron asked Barnier and his government to continue in a caretaker capacity ‘until the appointment of a new government’.

Abiyah Yasharahyalah died in a severely malnourished state following a respiratory infection.