U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass will attend this year's peace ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to mark the 80th anniversaries of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings, the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo said Monday.

The United States didn't send its ambassador to Japan to the annual ceremony in Nagasaki last year, over the city's decision not to invite Israel.

"In such a significant year of reflection and remembrance, I am honored to represent the United States at the peace memorial ceremonies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki," Glass said in a statement.

The United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and another on Nagasaki three days later, in the closing days of World War II.

Last year, the six Group of Seven major democracies excluding Japan didn't send their ambassadors to the peace ceremony in Nagasaki, saying the city's decision not to invite Israel due to its fighting in the Palestinian territory of Gaza meant that Israel was treated in the same way as Russia and Belarus, which were not invited following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, and could be misleading.

This year, Nagasaki has invited Israel and Russia, which hadn't been on the guest list to the annual ceremony since 2022. Both countries are expected to be represented by their ambassadors to Japan at Saturday's event.

It will be Glass's first visit to Hiroshima and Nagasaki since he assumed his current post in April.

"The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their message of peace and hope are an enduring reminder of the power of reconciliation," Glass said in the statement.