Hamas fighters breached the border fence enclosing the Gaza Strip enclave at the weekend, rampaging through towns and villages and killing 1,200 people while taking scores of hostages, the Israeli military has said.

Israeli jets have pounded Gazan targets for days in retribution, and the death toll there has risen to 1,200, Palestinian media reported, citing Gaza’s health ministry.

“Japan should be vigilant and look at what Hamas is doing with the aid,” Gilan Cohen said at a press conference. He commended Japan for acknowledging the Hamas attacks as “terrorism” and for saying Israel had a right to defend itself.

Japan, which calls for a political solution to allow Israel and a future independent Palestinian state to coexist, provides assistance to Palestinians through various schemes. That assistance totalled US$2.3 billion over the last decade, according to a foreign ministry document issued in June.

Resource-poor Japan imports more than 90% of its crude oil from the Middle East.

“We firmly condemn the terrorist attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups,” Japanese chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu told a regularly scheduled press conference on Thursday.

“At the same time, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is becoming more serious day by day and we are closely monitoring the situation in the region with serious concern,” Matsuno said.