Palestine, Japan discuss Israeli assaults in Gaza, West Bank

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa held talks in Ramallah on Wednesday with Japanese Assistant Foreign Minister Ando Toshihide to discuss Israeli assaults on the Gaza Strip, Anadolu reports.

Discussions between the two sides took up the latest Palestinian developments and the Israeli war on Gaza as well as army and settler attacks in the occupied West Bank, the premier’s office said in a statement.

Mustafa underlined the importance of international support for efforts to reach a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, begin reconstruction, and unify all Palestinian territories under a single government.

“Ending the occupation and achieving a just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution is the only solution left,” he added.

Toshihide, for his part, reiterated Japan’s steadfast commitment to the two-state solution and the importance of maintaining the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

He also rejected illegal Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank, according to the statement.

READ: UN report: Israel escalates West Bank settlements in violation of international law

Nearly 50,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 112,000 others injured in a brutal Israeli military campaign in Gaza since October 2023.

In the occupied West Bank, at least 937 people have also been killed and nearly 7,000 others injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers during the same period, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

READ: Israel’s settlement expansion in West Bank ‘amounts to war crime’: UN rights chief