The Israeli embassy in Tokyo has refused to accept a statement submitted by four groups of atomic bomb survivors in Japan. The statement reportedly criticises attacks on Iran by Israel and the United States, according to one of the organisations.

Japan’s Kyodo News reports that the document was returned by mail to the groups in Nagasaki Prefecture, Southwest Japan, with the postal service indicating that the Embassy of Israel in Tokyo had refused to accept it, the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors Council said. Nagasaki was destroyed by a US atomic bomb on August 9, 1945 in the closing days of the Second World War, three days after the bombing of Hiroshima.

Shigemitsu Tanaka, the 85-year-old head of the council, said the document had been sent back without being opened or read.

Earlier in March, the four groups, which are actively engaged in peace advocacy around the world, issued a joint statement calling for an immediate ceasefire following US-Israeli air strikes on Iran that began on February 28. The groups also condemned the attacks.

According to reports from Japan, the organisations have sent the same statement to the embassies of the other countries involved.