India, April 20 -- Qatar's chief negotiator, Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, has expressed his frustration with the slow pace of the talks for a ceasefire in Gaza, after Israeli strikes in the region resumed last month.

In an interview with news agency AFP, he said, "We're definitely frustrated by the slowness, sometimes, of the process in the negotiation. This is an urgent matter. There are lives at stake here if this military operation continues day by day."

In early March, the first phase of a truce between Israel and Hamas ended with both sides unable to agree on a concrete roadmap for the future.

"We've been working continuously in the last days to try to bring the parties together and revive the agreement that has been endorsed by the two ...