The video was also uploaded to YouTube, before being taken down Tuesday afternoon.
The hostages have been named as Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto.
The ransom demand coincides with Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s six-day visit to the Middle East. Abe and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised Monday to strengthen ties between the two nations.
“Japan and Israel are both countries that don’t have much of the natural resources but what we have is human resources,” Abe said, adding that ties are growing “in every field.”
AFP Tokyo tweeted Tuesday that Abe was due to attend a summit with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas later today:
Abe was expected to give a press conference in Jerusalem Tuesday, with unconfirmed reports suggesting that he would cut short his trip to the Middle East.
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