Israel and Hamas have not engaged in ceasefire talks in Gaza for about a month, Qatar's prime minister said on Wednesday after the EU-Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Brussels. writes "Politico".
"For the last three to four weeks, there has been no conversation or engagement at all and we are just moving in the same circle with the silence of all parties," said Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
Qatar, the US and Egypt have been brokering ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas since the start of the Gaza war last year, sparked by an October 7 attack in which Hamas fighters killed around 1,200 Israelis and took around 250 hostages in Gaza, which triggered Israel's offensive.
Qatar has long maintained close relations with Hamas and is widely seen as central to the mediations, which are taking place in stages.
"It always takes both sides to reach an agreement. If you have one of them [who] is not willing or interested in an agreement... you can never force it,", Al Thani said on Wednesday.
Al-Thani has worked to keep the talks going since the start of the war, sometimes meeting with Hamas representatives several times a day, according to the New York Times.
Al-Thani's comments come as Israel continues its assault on Lebanon, where the Israel Defense Forces have begun a "new phase" of the war in the region in September in response to cross-border attacks by Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.
"What happened to Lebanon complicated the situation and we saw that this war only worsened the situation for the whole region and made it more complicated for us as a mediator," Al Thani said on Wednesday.