The Japanese city of Hiroshima commemorated Tuesday 79 years since the atomic bombing as more tragedies unfolded across the world, particularly in Gaza and Ukraine.
City Mayor Kazumi Matsui made a somber speech at a memorial event to commemorate the victims of the U.S. nuclear attack on Aug. 6, 1945, that left around 140,000 people dead.
"Russia's protracted invasion of Ukraine and the worsening situation between Israel and Palestine are claiming the lives of countless innocent people and shattering normal life. These global tragedies are deepening distrust and fear among nations, reinforcing the public assumption that to solve international problems we have to rely on military force, which we should be rejecting," he said.
Days after the 1945 Hiroshima attack, a second U.S. nuclear bomb hit Nagasaki in southwest Japan, killing around 74,000 people.
The two strikes led to the end of World War II, and to this day Japan remains the only country to be hit by atomic weapons in wartime.
During Tuesday's ceremony, dignitaries including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida – all clad in black suits – bowed deeply and laid wreaths at the memorial cenotaph featuring the inscription "rest in peace."
Today, Hiroshima is a thriving metropolis of 1.2 million people, but the ruins of a domed building stand in the city center as a stark reminder of the attack's horrors.
For the third year running, Russia and Belarus were not invited to the ceremony because of the Ukraine crisis.
It was the city's first peace memorial since Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 incursion.
The Israeli ambassador attended the ceremony as usual, but according to local media, Hiroshima has never invited a Palestinian representative.
"That an invitation wasn't extended to Palestine is shocking," the Permanent General Mission of Palestine to Japan said on social media platform X last month.
A city official told AFP in June that Hiroshima had called for a "cease-fire as soon as possible and resolution through dialogue" in its invitation letter to Israel.
Israel's ambassador has not, however, been invited to the Nagasaki peace ceremony this year. Nagasaki has said the decision was not politically motivated, but rather taken to avoid any unexpected trouble.
