Former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Amos Hochstein, who visited Israel. On his X account, Gallant described the meeting as "successful" and added, "I heard about the significant progress towards an agreement that will ensure the safe return of northern residents to their homes." Gallant also wrote that "over the past year, I established three principles that must be met to allow for a change in the security situation: pushing Hezbollah north of the Litani River, creating an enforcement mechanism to dismantle the organization's terror infrastructure, and halting its armament route."