Oct 9 (Reuters) - Major stock markets in the Gulf fell in early trade on Monday, with the Dubai bourse falling the most as military clashes between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas deepened political uncertainty across the Middle East.
Israel's troops were still fighting to recapture its own towns from Hamas gunmen on Monday, acknowledging the battle was taking longer than expected more than two days after the militants burst across the fence from Gaza in a deadly rampage.
Dubai's main share index declined 2.5%, on course to mark its biggest intraday fall since June last year, as almost all the stocks on the index were in negative territory including blue-chip developer Emaar Properties, which retreated 2.6%.
Among other fallers, Shuaa Capital plunged nearly 10% as the board seeks to extinguish anticipated losses through capital reduction and simultaneously raising equity capital.
In Abu Dhabi, the index dropped 1.3%, with the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) biggest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank losing 1.9%.
Separately, the UAE has launched its first wind project of commercial size, making use of technology to exploit low wind speeds, as it pushes to boost renewables before hosting the COP 28 climate summit next month.
The Qatari benchmark fell 1.8%, with Qatar National Bank - the Gulf's biggest lender - falling more than 2%.
Qatar's foreign ministry issued a statement on Saturday saying that Israel alone was responsible for the ongoing escalation of violence with the Palestinian people, and called for restraint from both sides.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index slipped 0.3%, with oil giant Saudi Aramco falling 0.6%.
The kingdom along with other Arab countries reaffirmed their commitment to "collective and individual voluntary adjustments" to oil production, the Saudi state news agency said on Sunday.
However, concerns about disruptions to supply drove Brent up $3.14 to $87.72 a barrel. (Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru; Editing by Alison Williams)
