Photo/Illutration Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki, left receives his Japanese counterpart Yoko Kamikawa at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Friday, Nov. 3, 2023. (AP Photo)

Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa  pledged $65 million in additional humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip during a tour of Israel and Jordan.

Speaking to reporters in Jordan on Nov. 3 after meeting Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and her Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki, Kamikawa also said Japan was planning to provide material aid to war-torn Gaza.

“It is necessary for Israel and Palestine to be able to co-exist peacefully in order to prevent the repeat of another tragic act of terrorism,” Kamikawa said, adding that she had communicated Japan’s continued support for a two-state solution to both Cohen and Maliki.

The visit comes days before Japan is set to host the foreign ministers of the industrialized Group of Seven nations in Tokyo as the crisis in Gaza deepens, with Israel resisting calls for a humanitarian pause and the leader of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group warning of the conflict spilling over to neighboring areas.

Kamikawa refrained from commenting on whether Israel’s strikes on Gaza were within the limits of international law, but said that actors must comply with the spirit of protecting human rights and not cause needless civilian deaths.

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