Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Tuesday accused Israel of choosing to expand the conflict in the Middle East to implement “pre-existing plans” for the occupied West Bank and Lebanon, Paralel.Az reports citing Al Arabiya.

“The easiest and safest way to stop the escalation on the border with Lebanon would have been to stop the war of extermination on Gaza,” Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani told Qatar’s Shura Council.

“But Israel deliberately chose to expand the aggression to implement pre-existing plans in other locations such as the West Bank and Lebanon because it sees that the space is available for that,” he said in his annual address opening the Gulf emirate’s legislative body.

Qatar has played a key role in efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and has called for a truce in Lebanon, where Israel last month intensified operations against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

Sheikh Tamim said on Tuesday that Israel had “begun to expand its aggression to Lebanon.”