Middle East latest: US envoy holds talks in Lebanon on Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire proposal

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein held what he called “very constructive talks” with Lebanese officials in Beirut on Tuesday about a possible cease-fire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

"Today, we have continued to significantly narrow the gaps,” Hochstein said, a day after Hezbollah reportedly gave a positive response to a U.S. draft proposal to end the 13-month war, which the Lebanese group launched to support Hamas in Gaza.

The U.S. proposal could see Israeli ground forces leave Lebanon and Hezbollah militants withdraw away from the Israeli border. More Lebanese army troops and U.N. peacekeepers would be sent to a buffer zone in southern Lebanon as part of the deal.

An Israeli airstrike on Tuesday hit a Lebanese army base in the southern town of Sarafand, killing three soldiers, the army said – the second deadly strike on Lebanese soldiers in as many days. There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military.

Israeli strikes and combat in Lebanon have killed more than 3,500 people and wounded 15,000, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The war has displaced nearly 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, 87 soldiers and 50 civilians, including some foreign farmworkers, have been killed by attacks involving rockets, drones and missiles.

In Gaza, health authorities say Israel's war against Hamas has killed over 43,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children.