Press Releases

1. Ms. KAMIKAWA Yoko, Minister for Foreign Affairs delivered a video message at the conference. The following is a summary of the message.
    
   1. Japan had welcomed the pause in fighting, the release of the hostages and the scaling up of humanitarian deliveries to Gaza, as they would lead to calming down the situation. However, it is regrettable that fighting has now resumed. It is important that the parties concerned return to the deal in order to improve critical humanitarian situation and calming down the situation as soon as possible.
   2. In the Statement on the Situation in Israel and Gaza on November 29, G7 Foreign Ministers underscored the importance of protecting civilians and compliance with international law, in particular international humanitarian law. We also support future pauses as needed to enable assistance to be scaled up, and to facilitate the release of all hostages.
   3. On December 1, medical items from Japan arrived at El-Arish airport, arranged by JICA. They are additional relief supplies following the ones arrived in November. However, we are concerned about the long queue of trucks on the Egyptian side. There is a need to increase processing capacities, including the use of the Kerem Shalom crossing.
   4. We will disburse our grant of approximately 65 million US Dollars without delay. I hope that other countries will do the same as soon as possible.
   5. We will work closely with the international community and will do our best to improve humanitarian access.
2. The meeting was chaired by H.E. Ms. Catherine COLONNA (Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, French Republic) and was attended by representatives of other countries including EU member states, G7 countries and other countries as well as international organizations.

[Reference]

• Video message scripts in English (PDF) and Japanese (provisional translation) (PDF)