EU hosts Palestinian leader in conference about security and peace in Gaza and the West Bank

BRUSSELS (AP) — More than 60 nations sent representatives to Brussels Monday to discuss with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohamed Mustafa stability, security and long-term peace in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, as global attention largely remains focused in the Middle East on the ongoing crises in Iran and Lebanon.

Ongoing attacks in the West Bank and continued devastation in Gaza have dimmed the prospect for a two-state solution, said Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot ahead of the meeting Monday. He is co-hosting the meeting with the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas.

“We observe without naivety that the two-state solution is being made more difficult by the day,” Prévot said. “But Belgium and many European and Arab partners continue to believe that this remains the only realistic path to a lasting peace, for Israelis, for Palestinians and for the stability of the entire region.”

Nikolay Mladenov, the director of the Board of Peace created by United States President Donald Trump, and a well-known figure in Brussels, also attended the meeting.

Palestinians in the West Bank say that Israel has used the cover of the Iran war to tighten its grip over the territory, as settler attacks surge and the military imposes additional wartime restrictions on movement, citing security.

Gaza requires “one state, one government, one law and one goal,” Mustafa said on Monday in Brussels.

“Our common objective of achieving one security structure under the legitimate authority should guide the effective coordination between the International Stabilization Force, the Palestinian Authority, security institutions and other international actors. Security must not be fragmented,” he said.

He also called for “the gradual and responsible collection of arms from all armed groups and also the full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.”

The 27-nation European Union is the largest single donor to the Palestinian Authority, with its 90-year-old president Mahmoud Abbas ruling from Ramallah for two decades. And while the EU has avoided directly joining the Board of Peace, preferring the multilateralism of the United Nations and global legal norms, the bloc is eager to not be sidelined in diplomacy in a volatile region just across the Mediterranean.

Outrage in Europe over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza drove many EU leaders to condemn Israel’s war conduct and to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. With the recent election defeat of long-serving Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a close ally of Netanyahu, there might now be enough political support within the bloc for stronger actions like targeted sanctions on Israeli settlers or even the suspension of some ties to Israel.

Hungarian election winner Péter Magyar said during his first news conference on April 13 that he would seek “pragmatic relations” with Israel but also rejoin the International Criminal Court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu. Orbán had defied that warrant while hosting Netanyahu in Budapest in 2025 and then started the process of Hungary leaving the world's only court for war crimes and genocide.

Magyar said that he might not continue Orbán's policy of vetoing actions on Israel — a stumbling block that EU leaders critical of Israel have failed to overcome over the past three years of brutal conflict in the Middle East.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wants the EU to tear up its long-standing Association Agreement with Israel.

In force since 2000, that agreement sets out the legal and institutional framework within which the bloc and Israel conduct trade and cooperation. The EU had found indications Israel had violated that agreement in its military campaign in Gaza.

“We have nothing against the people of Israel; quite the contrary,” Sánchez said in a post on X on Sunday. “But a Government that violates international law and, therefore, the principles and values of the EU cannot be our partner.”

Spain will table a formal proposal at an EU foreign ministers’ meeting on Tuesday to end the agreement with Israel, he said.

Spain, Ireland, and the Netherlands have voiced deep criticism of Israel's military campaigns in the Middle East but have failed to garner enough support to spur joint EU action.

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Associated Press writers Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal and Justin Spike in Budapest, Hungary contributed to this report.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, center, listens as Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, right, speaks during a meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution in Brussels, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, left, listens as Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa speaks during a meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution in Brussels, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

From left, Belgium's Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and Norway's Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide during a meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution in Brussels, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

TOKYO (AP) — Japan on Monday issued an advisory for northern coastal areas for an increased risk of a possible mega-quake induced by a major quake earlier in the day.

The Cabinet Office and the Japan Meteorological Agency said there is 1% chance for a mega-quake occurring on the northern Japanese coast in the next week or so following the powerful quake earlier Monday near the Chishima trough.

Officials said the advisory is not a quake prediction but urged residents to raise their preparedness, such as emergency food and their grab bag just in case, while continuing their daily lives.

The advisory for the region is the second in recent months. One was issued following another major quake in December. No major subsequent quake occurred.

A powerful earthquake struck off the northern Japanese coast earlier Monday, and the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami alert in the region, sending residents to rush over to safer grounds. So far, no major injuries or damages have been reported.

The quake registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.5 occurred off the coast of Sanriku in northern Japan at around 4:53 p.m. (0753 GMT), at a depth of about 10 kilometers (6 miles), the agency said.

A tsunami of about 80 centimeters (2.6 feet) was detected at the Kuji port in the Iwate prefecture within one hour of the quake, and a smaller tsunami of 40 centimeters (1.3 feet) was recorded at another port in the prefecture, the agency said.

The tsunami alert and advisory were still in place in Japan, with warnings of a wave of up to 3 meters (10 feet), but the U.S.-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the tsunami threat from the quake “has now passed.”

The Japanese agency urged residents in the region to immediately stay away from the coast or along rivers and take shelter on higher ground. It also cautioned people in the area against possible aftershocks for about a week.

Footage on NHK television showed many people driving up to parks and other facilities on higher ground. In the town of Tomakomai in Hokkaido, a resident came to a hilltop park after picking up his child at a cram school and said he planned to stay until the alert is lifted.

Iwate and three other northern prefectures issued non-binding evacuation advisories to more than 128,000 residents, according to the disaster management agency.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said officials are assessing the situation but so far no damage or injuries have been reported, including at power stations and other facilities.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority said nuclear power plants and related facilities in the region were all intact and no abnormalities were detected.

Another 7.5 magnitude quake in December left dozens injured.

It's 15 years since a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, ravaged parts of northern Japan, caused more than 22,000 deaths and forced nearly half a million people to flee their homes, most of them due to tsunami damage.

Some 160,000 people fled their homes in Fukushima because of the radiation spewed from the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. About 26,000 of them haven’t returned because they resettled elsewhere, their hometowns remain off-limits or they have lingering concerns about radiation.

An official of the Japan Meteorological Agency speaks near a monitor showing a tsunami alert during a news conference at the agency in Tokyo, Monday, April 20, 2026, after an earthquake that struck off the northern Japanese coast. (Masanori Kumagai/Kyodo News via AP)