Okinawa Governor Genta Koja on Wednesday lodged a protest regarding a U.S. Marine suspected of killing a woman in the prefecture.
Koja made the voice when meeting with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the Prime Minister's Official Residence that day.
The 20-year-old suspect, Devin Ballard, is stationed at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa. He is suspected of killing a 39-year-old local woman and taking her wallet and backpack in the early hours of Saturday at a hotel in Naha, the Kyodo News reported, citing Okinawa prefectural police.
Koja said during the meeting that the incident was egregious and caused great anxiety among the people of Okinawa, and such case is absolutely intolerable. Takaichi said she hopes Japan and the U.S. would engage in further consultations and adopt concrete and effective measures to prevent such incidents from happening again.
Earlier that day, Koja met separately with Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. He lodged a protest with Koizumi, demanding concrete and effective measures to fundamentally prevent such incidents from recurring. Koja said that while Okinawa Prefecture has repeatedly made the call, the U.S. military measures to enforce discipline and conduct human rights education have proven completely ineffective.
U.S. forces stationed in Japan have a long record of committing crimes, including rape, murder and robbery. Statistics showed that in 2025 alone, Okinawa police handled more than 100 criminal cases involving U.S. military personnel and related individuals.
The Okinawa area coordinator of the U.S. military said on Tuesday they will impose a curfew from midnight to 05:00 for one month starting Friday following the arrest of Ballard.
All U.S. military personnel in Okinawa will also observe a 48-hour operational pause from noon Wednesday, during which there will be "no off-base liberty, including a complete prohibition of alcohol consumption on or off base," said the coordinator Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson.
Okinawa governor lodges protest on murder of woman by US Marine
The Gaza Strip has suffered severe casualties and heavy economic losses during the past three years of Palestinian-Israeli conflict, according to a statement from the Hamas-run Gaza Government Media Office.
The media office on Wednesday issued a statement saying that the ongoing conflict has claimed the lives of more than 74,000 people in the Gaza Strip, displaced more than 2 million people from their homes, and caused direct economic losses totaling over 80 billion U.S. dollars.
The statement said that in terms of economic damage, the residential sector had suffered the heaviest impact, amounting to approximately 34 billion dollars; healthcare and municipal public services had each sustained losses of around 6 billion dollars; the commercial, industrial, and agricultural sectors had incurred combined losses of approximately 13 billion dollars; and sectors such as telecommunications and education had also suffered severe losses.
The statement noted that the ongoing blockade and conflict have dealt a devastating blow to local livelihoods; over 87 percent of the Gaza Strip's agricultural land and greenhouses has been destroyed, and 8,700 agricultural wells have been rendered inoperable, causing annual fruit and vegetable yields to plummet from 524,000 tons to just 20,000 tons.
The statement said that over the three years of conflict, the Israeli military has dropped more than 230,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip, resulting in damage to over 90 percent of the Strip, including the complete destruction of more than 335,000 buildings.
Through its military operations and forced displacement, the Israeli military now effectively controls more than 80 percent of the territory in the Gaza Strip, the statement said.
The recorded death toll in the Gaza Strip has reached 74,250, with approximately 9,500 others believed to be still buried under the rubble or missing, the statement said, adding that more than 55 percent of those killed were children, women, and the elderly.
The ongoing conflict has also claimed the lives of 1,723 healthcare workers, 149 civil defense and rescue personnel, and 262 media professionals, according to the statement.
Only 19 of the 38 hospitals in the Gaza Strip remain partially operational, while medical services in northern Gaza and the Rafah area have completely collapsed, the statement said.
Across the Gaza Strip, 97 percent of school buildings have sustained damage, and more than 740,000 students have been deprived of their right to education, according to the statement.
The statement also blamed Israel's obstruction of aid corridors for a severe humanitarian disaster, resulting in 460 deaths -- including 164 children -- due to acute hunger and malnutrition.
Gaza suffers severe casualties, economic losses in three-year conflict
