Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa plans to visit Egypt this weekend to attend a multinational meeting to discuss the escalating conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, sources familiar with the matter said Friday.
Yoko Kamikawa will leave Japan later in the day to join the international conference hosted by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, where she is expected to explain Japan's eagerness to improve the humanitarian situation in the Middle East, the sources said.
The forum, scheduled to be held Saturday, will seek to address the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, currently besieged by Israel, and de-escalate tensions in the region, according to Egyptian media reports.
On Tuesday, Kamikawa announced Japan will provide $10 million (about ¥1.5 billion) in emergency humanitarian relief to the Palestinian enclave through international institutions.
Stability in the Middle East is important for Tokyo, which in recent decades has maintained friendly relations with various countries in the region. Japan is highly dependent on crude oil imports from the area.