Japan to provide $87 million additional humanitarian aid to Palestinians

TOKYO - Japan will provide US$65 million (S$87 million) in additional humanitarian aid to Palestinians out of concern over the conflict in Gaza, foreign minister Yoko Kamikawa said during a tour of Israel and Jordan on Friday (Nov 3).

Speaking to reporters in Jordan after meeting Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and 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 coexist 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 industrialised 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 neighbouring areas.

Kamikawa refrained from commenting on whether Israel's strikes on Gaza was 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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