Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas denounced on Sunday the murder of the Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto who were killed by Islamic State militants. Abbas sent his condolences to the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the families of the victims. He added that this act is which is heinous and coward, stressing that it is contradicting with values, human morality, and religious teachings. In the video released on January 20, the Islamic State demanded $200 million from the Japanese government within 72 hours or the hostages Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa would be killed. On January 24, IS beheaded Yukawa. IS demanded Jordan to swap the al-Qaeda jailed member in Jordan, Sajida Rishawi for the other Japanese hostage Kenji Goto. On Saturday, IS executed Goto after the failure of negotiations to set Rishawi free.
