BRUSSELS

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin expressed concern about Israel's attack in Qatar, and warned that the strike "takes us further from a ceasefire and lasting peace."

Martin said in a statement on the US social media company, X, that the attack risks further destabilizing an already fragile region and complicates efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

"As the Secretary General of the United Nations has said, it represents a flagrant violation of Qatar's sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said.

Martin urged all parties with influence to act to prevent an escalation and to work toward an immediate ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza.

"This will require careful and detailed diplomacy, not the use of blunt military force as we have seen today," he added.

Israel said it conducted a "precise strike targeting the senior leadership" of the Palestinian group Hamas in the Qatari capital. The Israeli premier's office said the attack was a "wholly independent Israeli operation."

Qatar condemned the "cowardly" attack, saying the strike targeted residential buildings that housed members of Hamas’s political bureau.