Israel has withdrawn its negotiators from Doha after admitting Gaza truce talks have “deadlocked” over demands from Hamas, a senior Israeli official said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

An official close to the Mossad intelligence chief, who is negotiating, accused Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar of sabotaging diplomacy “as part of a broader effort to ignite this war during Ramadan.”

The warring parties stepped up talks brokered by Qatar and Egypt for a six-week halt to the Israeli offensive in exchange for the proposed release of 40 of the 130 hostages still being held by Palestinian militants in Gaza.

Hamas tried to get from any agreement a cessation of fighting and the withdrawal of Israeli forces. Israel ruled out that option, saying it would eventually resume efforts to dismantle Hamas’ governance and military capabilities.

Hamas also wants hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled Gaza City and neighboring areas to the south in the first phase of the nearly six-month war to be allowed to return to the north.

An Israeli official said Israel had agreed to double the number of Palestinians it would release in exchange for 700 to 800 hostages and allow some displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Tuesday that Hamas had made “illusory” demands that it said showed the Palestinians were not interested in a deal.

In Tel Aviv, a crowd of about 300 family members of the hostages and their supporters called for a deal to free the captives. Some, as a sign of protest, locked themselves in cages, holding signs with photos of their loved ones. “No price is too high,” reads one of the signs.

Hamas accused Israel of disrupting negotiations during the military offensive.

Talks in Doha continue as Palestinians in Gaza face acute shortages of food, medicine and hospital care and fears of famine grow.