The Japanese government is considering offering medical care in the world's fourth-largest economy for sick and wounded residents of besieged Gaza, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has said.

Ishiba told a parliament session on Monday that his administration is working on a policy to provide support in Japan for "those who are ill or injured in Gaza".

He said that educational opportunities could also be offered to people from Gaza.

Ishiba was responding to a lawmaker who had asked whether a 2017 scheme to accept Syrian refugees as students could be used as a reference point to help Gaza residents.

"We are thinking about launching a similar programme for Gaza, and the government will make efforts towards the realisation of this plan," Ishiba said.

Under a different framework, as of the end of last year, Japan had accepted a total of 82 people as students from Syria who were recognised as refugees by the UN refugee agency, a foreign ministry official in charge of aid programmes said.

The director of Gaza hospitals said 6,000 patients were ready to be transferred from the Palestinian territory, and more than 12,000 were "in dire need of treatment".

Israeli carnage

Israel has killed over 61,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in its carnage in the blockaded enclave since the start of its carnage on October 7, 2023.

Nearly 112,000 were left wounded.

Tel Aviv caused a massive shortage of basic necessities, including food, water, medicine and electricity, while also displacing almost the entire population and leaving over 11,000 people missing.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.