Is­rael’s mil­i­tary launched airstrikes across Lebanon on Mon­day, un­leash­ing ex­plo­sions through­out the coun­try and killing at least 31 while Is­raeli lead­ers ap­peared to be clos­ing in on a ne­go­ti­at­ed cease­fire with the Hezbol­lah mil­i­tant group.

Is­raeli strikes hit com­mer­cial and res­i­den­tial build­ings in Beirut as well as in the port city of Tyre. Mil­i­tary of­fi­cials said they tar­get­ed ar­eas known as Hezbol­lah strong­holds. They is­sued evac­u­a­tion or­ders for Beirut’s south­ern sub­urbs, and strikes land­ed across the city, in­clud­ing me­ters from a Lebanese po­lice base and the city’s largest pub­lic park.

The bar­rage came as of­fi­cials in­di­cat­ed they were near­ing agree­ment on a cease­fire, while Is­raeli Prime Min­is­ter Ben­jamin Ne­tanyahu ‘s Se­cu­ri­ty Cab­i­net pre­pared to dis­cuss an of­fer on the ta­ble.

By SAL­LY ABOU ALJOUD, JOSEF FE­D­ER­MAN and SAM METZ

BEIRUT (AP)