By Tuesday night, Japan was transfixed by the hostage crisis, with major news coverage focussed on reports about two Japanese men (in orange) who have been kidnapped by the Islamic State group.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to save the men, saying: "Their lives are the top priority".
Abe and other Japanese officials declined to discuss whether they'd pay the ransom for captives Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa, though their armed forces generally only operate in a self-defence capacity at home. Their kidnapping also immediately recalled the 2004 beheading of a Japanese backpacker in Iraq, carried out by the Islamic State group's predecessor over Japan's involvement in the US-led war there.
Abe cut short his visit to the Middle East after Islamic State militants threatened to kill two Japanese hostages within 72 hours.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, during a Tuesday visit to Ramallah in the Palestinian territories, demanded that the Islamic State group immediately free the two Japanese hostages unharmed, and vowed never to give in to terrorists.
Abe, who had planned to remain in the region until Jan 24, left Israel on Tuesday evening after having pledged $200 million in non-military aid to nations confronted by the al- Qaeda breakaway group, Kyodo News reported.
The demanded ransom is the equivalent of 6.55 billion baht.
Tuesday's video, identified as being made by the Islamic State group's al-Furqan media arm and posted on militant websites associated with the extremist group, mirrored other hostage threats it has made. Japanese officials said they would analyse the tape to verify its authenticity, though Abe offered no hesitation as he pledged to free the men while speaking to journalists in Jerusalem.
"It is unforgivable," said Abe as he wrapped up a six-day visit to the Middle East. He added: "Extremism and Islam are completely different things."
In the video, the two men appear in orange jumpsuits with a rocky hill in the background, a masked militant dressed in black standing between them. The scene resembles others featuring the five hostages previously beheaded by the Islamic State group, which controls a third of Iraq and Syria.
"To the prime minister of Japan: Although you are more than 8,000 and 500 kilometres from the Islamic State, you willingly have volunteered to take part in this crusade," says the knife-brandishing militant, who resembles and sounds like a British militant involved in other filmed beheadings.
"You have proudly donated $100 million to kill our women and children, to destroy the homes of the Muslims ... and in an attempt to stop the expansion of the Islamic State, you have also donated another $100 million to train the (apostates)."
The militant's comments likely refer to money Abe pledged Sunday and Monday while in Egypt to help Iraq's government and aid Syrian refugees.
Abe said he would send Yasuhide Nakayama, a deputy foreign minister, to Jordan to seek the country's support and to resolve the hostage crisis. The premier also said the Israeli government, which Japan promised Sunday to cooperate with on counter-terrorism, are sharing information to aid in the hostage crisis. The Israeli prime minister's office declined to comment.
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