Negotiations on consolidating the U.S.-backed truce in the war in Gaza are at a “critical” moment, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said on Saturday.

Mediators are working to force the next phase of ceasefire forward, the Qatari prime minister, whose country has been a key mediator in the war, said during a panel at the Doha Forum conference in Qatar.

“We are at a critical moment. It’s not yet there. So what we have just done is a pause,” al-Thani said, referring to violence subsiding after the Gaza truce took effect nearly a month ago.

“We cannot consider it yet a ceasefire. A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces – (until) there is stability back in Gaza, people can go in and out – which is not the case tod

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