The deal enables more aid, including limited amounts of fuel, to enter Gaza to alleviate worsening conditions for the 2.3 million Palestinians trapped there. It is being brokered by Qatar, Egypt, and the US, according to the officials and the diplomat.

One of the Egyptian officials says that details of the deal were discussed this week in Cairo with the visiting CIA chief and an Israeli delegation. The official said mediators are finalizing a draft deal.

A senior US official said the Biden administration has not put forward any specific time frame for a pause in Israel’s military operations but has suggested that Israel considers tying the length of a pause to the release of a certain number of captives.

If an agreement on the pause duration and the number of captives to be freed can be reached and the deal successfully implemented, the same formula could be revisited for additional pauses and releases, according to the official.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said any temporary ceasefire would have to be accompanied by the release of the captives who were held by Hamas. Israel said around 240 captives, both Israelis and those with foreign passports, are currently held in Gaza.

A three-day ceasefire would allow the delivery of humanitarian aid across Gaza, including the northern area, the focus of Israel’s military campaign on the strip. Under the proposed deal, some fuel would also enter Gaza for the first time since the start of the war to be distributed to hospitals and bakeries under UN supervision.

Israel has barred fuel shipments to Gaza since the start of the war, arguing Hamas would divert them for military use. Over the past month, only limited amounts of aid, such as medicine, food, and water, have entered Gaza. Aid workers say it is not nearly enough to meet mounting needs.

Under the proposed truce deal, Hamas would release a dozen civilian captives, most of whom are foreign passport holders, and provide a complete list of captives to mediators, according to the officials. The International Committee of the Red Cross would be allowed to visit the captives.

The diplomat said the talks are complex because of the involvement of different parties in the region and in Western capitals.