Negotiations between Israel and Hamas to secure a truce in Gaza and a release of captives have stalled, Qatar’s prime minister said on Wednesday.

“We are going through a sensitive stage with some stalling, and we are trying as much as possible to address this stalling,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told a news conference with Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu.

The Qatari premier said Doha had “warned from the beginning of this war against the expansion of the circle of conflict, and today we see conflicts on different fronts”.

“We constantly call on the international community to assume its responsibilities and stop this war,” he said, adding people of Gaza faced “siege and starvation” with humanitarian aid being used as a “tool for political blackmail”.

Hamas has already put forward its demands for ending Israel’s war on Gaza. 

The resistance group has called for a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the entire Gaza Strip, the return of the displaced to their areas and places of residence, and intensification of the entry of relief and aid.