President Biden and his aides are using the agreement for a brief halt to hostilities in Gaza to push the Israeli government to take broad measures aimed at lessening the harm to Palestinian civilians, including setting up safe areas, allowing in much more aid and fuel, and restoring basic services such as water and electricity, U.S. officials say.

American and Qatari officials are also pushing their Israeli counterparts to consider extending the planned four-day pause in fighting beyond the weekend if there is a chance of freeing more hostages held by Hamas. Israeli continues to dismiss calls for a longer-term cease-fire accompanied by political negotiations, despite growing U.S. and international concern about the humanitarian toll in Gaza.

The American officials, who say they support Israel’s right to defend itself, expect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet to continue the military campaign in Gaza that began after the Hamas terrorist attacks nearly seven weeks ago, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 240 others abducted.

But the American officials say the death toll in Gaza — around 13,000, about 40 percent of them children, according to the health ministry there — is too high, and has turned many nations against Israel’s tactics and undercut public support for the country in the United States. And the U.S. officials are worried about the Israeli military’s expected offensive in southern Gaza, where many of the enclave’s two million people have sought shelter.

As it pummeled Gaza City in the north, the Israeli government told residents to go to southern Gaza, and many did so. But Israel has continued to carry out airstrikes across the south with large munitions: 1,000- to 2,000-pound bombs.

U.S. officials say they have told their Israeli counterparts that an offensive in the south with high civilian casualties would further isolate Israel in the court of global opinion, including among its Arab neighbors, who have sharply denounced the ongoing violence and called for a long-term cease-fire.