Micheál Martin: Middle East fears Israel-Hamas conflict could escalate across the region 

Speaking in Dubai, where he is attending the Cop28 conference Micheál Martin said: 'At the moment, it is the people of Gaza who are suffering unacceptably. That needs to stop as quickly as possible.' Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Middle Eastern leaders are worried that the potential for violence will increase across the region unless Israel stops its military offensive in Gaza, Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin has said.

The Tánaiste said he would use his two days in Dubai, where he is attending the UN’s Cop28 climate change summit, to discuss diplomacy as well as climate-related issues with various leaders.

He said Israel “has to stop as quickly as possible”, as he hailed the leadership of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for their efforts to quell the bloodshed.

The Saudi regime has been accused in recent years of trying to use the likes of sport and greenwashing to boost its global image across the world to deflect its human rights record.

However, Mr Martin praised the role it has played in the ongoing Gaza crisis.

“The Saudi Government is playing a constructive role in trying to get a proper process in play in respect of Gaza itself and have been very constructive in putting together Arab states around the issue, and also in their engagement with the US and with Israel,” he said.

The UAE, which is hosting Cop28 this month, is also worried about the contamination of violence across the region, he said: 

We believe the violence is unconscionable now. The UAE is very concerned about this also —  in fact, everyone in the region is concerned about the potential for this to escalate across the region with dire consequences.

"At the moment, it is the people of Gaza who are suffering unacceptably. 

"That needs to stop, as quickly as possible. At the moment, we don’t see those signs but there is significant international diplomacy going on to try and get the killing stopped,” he said.

An upcoming meeting of EU ministers will put pressure on Israel to end its offensive, he said.

While climate change agreements at Cop28 threaten to be overshadowed by the Gaza situation, it is a useful meeting place to discuss such global crises to find solutions, he claimed.

“We have a European foreign affairs ministerial meeting on Monday and these meetings at Cop28 and in Riyadh will be useful in terms of feeding into that,” Mr Martin said. 

"The pressure will be increased on Israel to stop."