Our NBC News team is on Israel's northern border as I write this, and President Bush's joint news conference with British Prime Minister Blair is being aired live on television. The volume is all the way up because every few minutes we can hear the firing of Israeli 155 millimeter artillery into Lebanon a few hundred yards away.

The leaders of two of the world's most powerful nations are voicing their unified position to work for a sustainable peace in the region, before calling for an immediate cease-fire. Their comments seem a touch defensive, given a worldwide outcry over the disproportionate number of civilian deaths in Lebanon.

Just a few hours earlier, Israel reported that Hezbollah has fired its most powerful missile yet, reaching well south of Haifa. As we drove here, we passed the Israel city of Kiryat Smona soon after it was hit again with a Katyusha rocket. Many Israelis there are too poor to evacuate and families are spending nights in bomb shelters for safety.

We unloaded our gear at a modest hotel, with a view of the border, including the U.N. observation post Israel says it accidentally hit a few days ago.

After stopping to watch the President and Prime Minister talk about what they are trying to do to stop the violence, we are told that all night we will hear the sounds of war. We check to make sure everyone has earplugs, but even if they work, we wonder how anyone here can sleep.