GEOFF BENNETT: As the war with Iran continues to escalate, Northern Israel is yet again on the conflict's front line, facing a barrage of missile and drone fire from Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran.

Communities still recovering from the fighting that followed the October 7 attacks now face once again the constant danger and mental trauma that comes with war.

For this report, a "News Hour" team filmed in Israel's north, and Nick Schifrin has the story.

(SIRENS BLARING) NICK SCHIFRIN: In Northern Israel, six miles from the Lebanese border, the siren has become the soundtrack.

Patients and their families head into the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.

They have only 30 seconds before a possible Hezbollah missile strike, which is why the emergency room is inside a bunker.

Dr.

Zvi Sheleg is the center's deputy director and gives producer Karl Bostic a tour.

DR.

ZVI SHELEG, Deputy Director, Galilee Medical Center: We're going now to the underground hospitalization departments.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Below ground, there are tunnels wide enough for an ambulance, a six-bed trauma room, and overall 450 beds.

DR.

ZVI SHELEG: Everything here is ready at all times for any missile attack, any drone attack.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In fewer than two weeks, Israel says Hezbollah has fired at least 850 drones and missiles into Northern Israel.

Hezbollah joined the war, breaking a 16-month-long tenuous cease-fire, leading Israel to bombard Beirut and targets throughout the country.

For the Galilee Medical Center, the war has meant moving the most vulnerable underground.

This is the neonatal intensive care unit, full of premature babies kept alive in incubators and on ventilators.

Haya Nakan's (ph) 2-month-old girl Razal was born weighing about one pound.

DR.

VERED FLEISHER-SHEFFER, Neonatal Unit Director, Galilee Medical Center: he smallest baby now.

It's 600 grams, but he was born 450 grams.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Dr.

Vered Fleisher-Sheffer is the NICU director.

She knows that in here, as in war, the line between life and death can be thin.

DR.

VERED FLEISHER-SHEFFER: They don't have name.

When they are bigger, the parents give names.

They don't give names when the baby's just born.

It's very challenging for the parents.

It's very challenging for all of us in Israel.

(SIRENS BLARING) NICK SCHIFRIN: The challenge to Northern Israel is overseen here, the Council of Northern Israel Communities, with Security Chief Nadav Shoshani and Director Moshe Davidowitz.

MOSHE DAVIDOWITZ, Council of Northern Israel Communities: We want to live here in the Galilee with our children and our parents in a peaceful area.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Israel has extensive air defense, but just today Hezbollah rockets hit this home in the north.

Many of these residents only recently returned to their communities after the 2024 cease-fire, but now the threat is once again constant.

Parts of a Hezbollah drone lie in the regional council's lobby.

MOSHE DAVIDOWITZ: The most difficult situation for our residents, I see it, is the mental health.

It's the trauma and the post-trauma that we see increase day by day.

And because of that, we demand that the war will finish soon.

COL.

NADAV SHOSHANI, IDF International Spokesperson: Right now, we will stay there for as long as necessary to protect our civilians.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But overlooking Lebanon, the Israeli military's international spokesman, Colonel Nadav Shoshani, predicted the war will not end any time soon, even if the U.S.

ends its war with Iran.

COL.

NADAV SHOSHANI: The timeline here is as long, as there is a threat on our civilians, we're going to defend our civilians.

That's the timeline against Hezbollah.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Along the border, there are political divides for how best to guarantee security.

But the closer you get to the border, the more it feels personal.

We visited Kibbutz Matzuva, just over one mile from the border.

Batya Safian was born in California, but has lived in this community for 37 years.

BATYA SAFIAN, Resident, Kibbutz Matzuva: We have gotten used to living with a lot of trauma on a daily basis.

He hears the boom, he wants to run down to the shelter.

NICK SCHIFRIN: They have a shelter, but this community is so close to the border there are no sirens.

They have to respond to the impacts.

She lives with her grandkids.

The local kindergarten has an attached bomb shelter.

BATYA SAFIAN: I don't want my grandchildren in another 20 years to be dealing with what I'm dealing with right now.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And yet, with neighbor 48-year-old Noa Rotem, they try to keep up their spirits.

Rotem has lived here for more than a decade.

After October the 7th, she evacuated and returned a year-and-a-half ago.

Now the threats that she fled from have returned.

NOA ROTEM, Resident, Kibbutz Matzuva: Sometimes, I'm jumping out of bed and I saw that I have been sleeping for 10 minutes or so.

Your body is like -- the fight, flight, freeze mechanism is working 24/7.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Like in many Israeli kibbutzes there is a dual desire, personal security and regional peace that's currently out of reach.

NOA ROTEM: It's not our reality and it's not the reality of the kids in Lebanon or in Gaza or in Iran.

No one wants I think to live in such fear.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But despite the fear, life and its rituals must go on, even if back in the hospital in a war zone.

Elihu Cohen is a cleaner at Galilee Medical Center.

He's also a newlywed.

But when the war started, his venue canceled.

So he got married in the hospital.

ELIHU COHEN, Galilee Medical Center (through translator): There was no other choice.

We got married here and everything was fine.

It was very, very fun.

It was nicer than doing it in a wedding hall.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And as the hospital marked a milestone of life, another life is about to begin.

We met Valentina (ph) and Michael Mission (ph) just before she went into labor, hoping to give birth in a world where bomb shelters are not needed.

QUESTION: Do you know, is it going to be a boy or a girl?

MICHAEL MISSION, Father: Girl.

VALENTINA MISSION, Mother: Girl.

Maria.

QUESTION: Oh, you already have a name for it?

VALENTINA MISSION: Yes, Maria.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And since we spoke to them, Valentina gave birth to a healthy Maria, a reminder that there is fortitude even in moments of fear.

For the "PBS News Hour" I'm Nick Schifrin.