Ireland’s government is preparing to recognize the state of Palestine within weeks, Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin said in Dublin on Tuesday.

He said he intended to submit a formal proposal to the government to recognize a Palestinian state when the “broader international discussions” were concluded.

“Don’t doubt that the recognition of the Palestinian state will happen,” he stressed during his speech before the Irish parliament.

Delaying recognition is not a “credible” option, nor “can we defend it anymore,” he added.

Mr Martin also told Irish news website The Journal that the formal proposal would be submitted “within the coming weeks”.

He explained that he had discussed recognition with other countries involved in peace initiatives in the past six months.

In March, Spain, Ireland, Slovakia and Malta made it clear in a joint statement that they were preparing to recognize the state of Palestine.

Ireland has long said it would not be opposed in principle to formal recognition of a Palestinian state if it contributed to the Middle East peace process.

But the war in the Gaza Strip brought the issue back into the spotlight.

The ongoing conflict erupted on October 7, when Hamas’ military arm launched an unprecedented raid on southern areas of the Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally by AFP based on official Israeli data.

In retaliation, the Israeli civil-military leadership vowed to “annihilate” the Palestinian Islamist movement, which it characterizes, like the US and the EU, as a “terrorist” organization, and in the military operation it is conducting, at least 33,360 people have lost their lives so far, in the majority of them women and children, according to the Hamas Health Ministry.

“There is no doubt that war crimes have been committed” and “I categorically condemn the continued bombardment of the people of Gaza,” Mr. Martin added.

The recognition of the state of Palestine could “be a catalyst to help the people in Gaza and the West Bank and to advance the Arab peace initiative”, decided the Irish Foreign Minister.