The United States and France are working on a cease-fire proposal that would impose a 21-day pause in the recent deadly fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, hoping to avert a wider war and also bolster stalled negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, France’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

“Let us take advantage of a number of leaders in New York this week to impose a diplomatic solution to turn around this cycle of violence,” Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s minister for Europe and foreign affairs, told the U.N. Security Council during an emergency session on the crisis. “War is not inevitable, a diplomatic solution is indeed possible.”

Mr. Barrot said the United States and France were working to define the parameters of a way out of the crisis.

“In recent days, we’ve worked with our American partners on a temporary cease-fire platform of 21 days to allow for negotiations,” he said. “This platform will be made public very soon, and we are counting on both parties to execute it without delay in order to protect civilian population and allow for diplomatic negotiations to begin.”

Robert A. Wood, a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, confirmed to the council that the Biden administration was working with other nations and believed that diplomacy “remains the only path to durably reverse the cycle of escalation” in the region.

“We are working with other countries on a proposal that we hope will enable calm and lead to diplomatic solutions,” he said. “We encourage the Security Council to lend its support to these diplomatic efforts in the coming days.”