Israel has dropped at least 75,000 tonnes of bombs on the Gaza Strip, more than six times the size of those the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots organisation for survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs, has received the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, with its co-head describing the situation in Gaza “like Japan 80 years ago”.

“In Gaza, children in blood are being held. It’s like in Japan 80 years ago,” Toshiyuki Mimaki, co-head of Nihon Hidankyo and survivor of the atomic bomb, told a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.

The organisation has been representing survivors of the 1945 United States atomic bomb of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, widely known as the “Hibakusha” in Japanese. The deadly bombs killed at least 120,000 in Hiroshima and around 73,000 others in Nagasaki.

Survivors of the atomic bomb continued to suffer from radiation-related illnesses, such as cancer and psychological trauma throughout their lives. As of March, there are 106,825 registered survivors of the atomic bomb, according to data from the Japanese health ministry.

Nihon Hidankyo has been promoting a nuclear-free world following the tragedy the Japanese witnessed in their home country nearly 80 years ago.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said the organisation deserved the award “for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again”.

“Hibakusha help us to describe the indescribable, to think the unthinkable, and to somehow grasp the incomprehensible pain and suffering caused by nuclear weapons,” it said.

While Japan is the only country hit by atomic weapons in a war, Israel has dropped at least 75,000 tonnes of bombs on the Gaza Strip, at least six times the size of those the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The U.S. is also complicit in the brutal Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, given its active military backing of Israel. More than a year on, Israel has killed more than 42,000 people in the besieged enclave, which would take at least 40 years to rebuild, according to estimates by Shelter Cluster.

The total death toll is also believed to be an undercount of the actual figure as thousands have remained missing under the rubble.

Commenting on the world’s current state, Nihon Hidankyo’s co-head called on politicians to take a decisive stance against nuclear weapons.

“It has been said that because of nuclear weapons, the world maintains peace. But nuclear weapons can be used by terrorists,” Mimaki said.

He explained: “For example, if Russia uses them against Ukraine, Israel against Gaza, it won’t end there. Politicians should know these things.”

Despite the horrors he witnessed, a hopeful Mimaki said the award presents an opportunity to the world that abolishing nuclear weapons is achievable.  

“It would be a great force to appeal to the world that the abolition of nuclear weapons can be achieved,” he said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba also welcomed the organisation’s win, describing it as “extremely meaningful”.

“The organisation that has worked toward abolishing nuclear weapons received the Nobel Peace Prize,” he said.