October 2, 2026
BEIRUT (AP) — A United States envoy said an agreement to end the Israel-Hezbollah war is “within our grasp” after talks in Lebanon on Tuesday. There was no such optimism in the Gaza Strip, where armed men looted nearly 100 aid trucks and worsened the food situation.
Amos Hochstein, the Biden administration’s pointman on Israel and Lebanon, arrived as allies of the Islamic terror group Hezbollah in the Lebanese government said it had responded positively to the proposal, which would entail both the militants and Israeli ground forces withdrawing from a U.N. buffer zone in southern Lebanon.
The buffer zone would be policed by thousands of additional U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanese troops. Israel has called for a stronger enforcement mechanism, potentially including the ability to operate against any Hezbollah threats, something Lebanon is likely to oppose.
Hochstein said he held “very constructive talks” with Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah who is mediating on the group’s behalf.
“Specifically today, we have continued to significantly narrow the gaps,” he told reporters after the two-hour meeting. “It’s ultimately the decisions of the parties to reach a conclusion to this conflict. ... It is now within our grasp.”
In Gaza, meanwhile, the theft of nearly 100 trucks loaded with food and other humanitarian aid over the weekend sent prices soaring and caused shortages in central Gaza, where most of the population of 2.3 million people have fled and where hundreds of thousands are crammed into squalid tent camps.
On Monday, a crowd of people waited outside a shuttered bakery in the central city of Deir al-Balah. A woman who had been displaced from Gaza City, identifying herself as Umm Shadi, said the price of flour had climbed to 400 shekels (over $100) a bag, if it can even be found.
Nora Muhanna, another woman displaced from Gaza City, said she was leaving empty-handed after waiting five hours for a bag of bread for her children. “From the beginning, there are no goods, and even if they are available, there is no money,” she said.
The United Nations said armed men stole food and other aid from 98 trucks over the weekend, the largest single incident of its kind since the start of the war. It did not say who was behind the theft.
Israel has long accused criminal gangs and Hamas of stealing aid, allegations denied by the militant group.
But the biggest problem is not theft – it’s the low amount of aid that flows into Gaza, said Tamara Alrifai, communications director for UNRWA, the U.N. agency with the biggest role in the aid operation.
Israel says it puts no restrictions on the quantity of aid entering Gaza and that it is working to increase the amount. This month, it opened a new crossing into central Gaza. So far it has reported a few dozen trucks entering through it.
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