Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is arranging to meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog as early as Friday on the sidelines of a United Nations conference on climate change amid the Middle Eastern nation's war with Hamas, government sources said.
If realized, it would be the first time for the prime minister to hold talks with an Israeli political leader since Israel was attacked by the Palestinian militant group on Oct. 7, triggering a large-scale conflict, the sources said Wednesday.
Kishida is unlikely to visit Israel during his trip to the Middle East, where he will participate in a summit-level gathering of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, known as COP28, in the United Arab Emirates.