While Israel’s new defence minister has ruled out a ceasefire in its conflict in Lebanon, White House envoy Amos Hochstein, the US official who has led several attempts to broker a ceasefire over the last year, was quoted as saying that he thought “there is a shot” at a truce in Lebanon soon, reports. “I am hopeful we can get it,” he said. Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said the caretaker government was awaiting concrete ceasefire proposals and had not been informed officially of any new ideas. “What is on the table is only [United Nations] Resolution 1701 and its provisions, which must be implemented and adhered to by both sides, not by the Lebanese side alone,” Berri, who helped negotiate the 2006 truce, said.