Israel's army said Hezbollah militants fired around 30 rockets into northern Israel early on Wednesday, just hours after Washington hosted the first direct talks between Israel and Lebanon in decades.

The military detected "approximately 30 launches" towards Israel since the early hours, a spokesman told AFP.

Two Israeli strikes on Wednesday hit vehicles south of Beirut, state media reported, while Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel, hours after Lebanon and Israel agreed to hold direct negotiations.

Israel is continuing its strikes on southern Lebanon, but has not targeted the Lebanese capital since a series of attacks across the country on April 8 that killed more than 350 people.

Jawad Younes, 11, and his cousins were playing soccer in the lot between their houses, as they often did. His little brother, 4-year-old Mehdi, had joined them but grew tired, so Jawad took him home and handed him off to their mother before returning to the game. Minutes later, an Israeli strike came.

The target was Jawad's uncle's home. The blast shook neighboring buildings and threw Jawad's siblings at home to the ground. As their mother, Malak Meslmani, scrambled to help them up, she could think only of Jawad.

Lebanon's ambassador to the United States Nada Hamadeh Moawad called for a ceasefire during "constructive" talks on Tuesday with Israeli officials in Washington, she said in a statement.

The "preparatory meeting was constructive," the envoy's statement said, adding that she "called for a ceasefire" and the return of displaced people to their homes, and also emphasized "the full sovereignty of the state" over all Lebanese territory.

Israel and Lebanon agreed to hold direct negotiations after "productive discussions" between the two sides in Washington, the United States said on Tuesday.

"The participants held productive discussions on steps toward launching direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon," State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement, adding: "All sides agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue."

Direct talks between Israel and Lebanon concluded in Washington on Tuesday, with Israel's envoy hailing a "wonderful exchange" and saying the two countries are "on the same side" in opposing Hezbollah.

President Joseph Aoun expressed hope that direct talks on Tuesday in Washington with Israel would lead to an end of the country's suffering after war erupted again between Israel and Hezbollah last month.

"I hope that the meeting in Washington... will mark the beginning of the end of the suffering of the Lebanese people in general, and those in the south in particular," Aoun said in a statement, adding that "stability will not return to the south if Israel continues to occupy its lands."

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Tuesday for Israel and Lebanon to seize a "historic opportunity" for peace as the first direct talks in decades between the two sides got underway in Washington.

The Israeli military warned Tuesday it expected a rise in attacks by Hezbollah targeting Israel's north, as Washington hosted Israeli and Lebanese officials for their first direct talks in decades.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors in Washington on Tuesday for the first direct peace talks between the two sides in decades.