An emergency worker picks up suspected body parts and puts them into a plastic bag as a member of the Lebanese civil defense searches for human remains in the rubble of a residential building where eight people were killed in an early-morning Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese village of Aramoun on Nov. 13. (Ed Ram for The Washington Post)

A senior U.S. mediator said on Tuesday there was a "real opportunity" to end the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and that gaps were narrowing, signalling progress in Washington's efforts to clinch a ceasefire.

U.S. envoy Amos Hoschtein said Tuesday "a real opportunity" to end the Israel-Hezbollah conflict is "now within our grasp," but both parties need to make the decision.