U.S. Envoy Will Head to Israel, Citing Progress on Lebanon Cease-Fire

The envoy, Amos Hochstein, held a second day of talks in the Lebanese capital to seek a truce between Israel and Hezbollah.

A top U.S. envoy met with Lebanese officials for a second day on Wednesday, continuing an unusually long visit amid cautious optimism over a potential cease-fire agreement in the war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Speaking at a news conference in Beirut, Amos Hochstein, the senior Biden administration envoy, said that there had been “additional progress” as a result of the latest discussions, and that he would travel to Israel later on Wednesday “to try to bring this to a close if we can.”

The office of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, confirmed that Mr. Hochstein was expected to arrive in Israel on Wednesday night for further cease-fire discussions. Omer Dostri, the prime minister’s spokesman, said Mr. Hochstein was set to meet with Mr. Netanyahu on Thursday.

Mr. Hochstein spoke to reporters in Beirut after meeting for a second straight day with Nabih Berri, the Hezbollah-allied speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, who has emerged as the group’s point man in the U.S.-led negotiations. During repeated rounds of shuttle diplomacy over the past year, Mr. Hochstein has seldom stayed overnight in Lebanon, so the extended visit raised hopes that negotiations could be inching forward.

The Biden administration dispatched Mr. Hochstein to the region in what amounted to a last-ditch effort to close a deal before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office in January. Mr. Hochstein said on Wednesday that the Biden administration would coordinate with the incoming Trump administration over cease-fire efforts in Lebanon, and that he did not believe the transfer of power in Washington would imperil efforts to bring about peace.

“We are going to work with the incoming administration. We are already going to be discussing this with them,” he said.

On Tuesday, Mr. Hochstein said that the gaps between Israel and Hezbollah had “narrowed” in discussions in recent weeks, though ultimately any results from the negotiations would be “the decision of the parties.” He declined to discuss details of the negotiations.

Israel’s war with Hezbollah, a group backed by Iran, escalated in September and has resulted in a humanitarian crisis, killing more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and displacing almost a quarter of the population. It is now the bloodiest conflict inside Lebanon since the country’s civil war, which lasted from 1975 to 1990.

Here are other developments:

• Israeli soldier killed: The Israeli military said a soldier was killed in combat in northern Gaza, the 800th Israeli soldier to die in the enclave since the war began in October 2023. It said another soldier had been wounded in the same incident on Tuesday. The Israeli news media reported that the two had been ambushed in a building in Beit Lahia, one of the towns in northern Gaza where Israel has mounted a weekslong offensive against Hamas militants.
• Hospital struggles: The director of one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza, Kamal Adwan Hospital, said the facility was providing only limited care to dozens of patients amid the Israeli military offensive. The director, Hussam Abu Safyia, said in comments reported by Gaza’s civil defense service that the hospital lacked food, water and medical supplies. Israeli forces withdrew from the hospital in late October after a raid during which Palestinian health officials said nearly all of the medical workers were detained.

Aaron Boxerman and Matthew Mpoke Bigg contributed reporting.

Our Coverage of the Middle East Crisis

• New Fear Divides Lebanon: Tensions among multiple sects in the country have long lurked just below the surface. As hundreds of thousands flee Israeli airstrikes in the south, those strains are worsening.
• Traces of Normalcy in Gaza: Most people in Gaza are struggling just to survive Israel’s assault on Hamas, and experts say famine is imminent. Yet a few pockets of ordinary life have bloomed in defiance of the war.
• Israeli Airstrikes: Two waves of Israeli strikes hit Lebanon’s capital for the first time in weeks, while Israeli attacks in central and northern Gaza killed more than 30 people.
• Lawsuit Against Iran: Families of American victims of the Oct. 7 attack sued Iran, accusing it of supporting the single deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
• New Challenges for Trump: President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda in the Middle East is not yet clear, but the geopolitical landscape has changed significantly since he was last in office.