Watching and waiting for a Gaza ceasefire

With some 90 rockets fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip by the late afternoon Tuesday represented some sort of relief for Israelis within missile range. For years they have been the targets of Palestinian militants. Now it is Gaza under fire, although for the moment Egypt is being given a chance to make its diplomacy work, and the anticipated ground assault has been postponed. Sderot has been hit by rockets before, but some of the Gaza attacks were more ambitious, with at least one missile being fired at Jerusalem, claimed by Hamas. Only the second to be fired at the Holy City, it landed in the West Bank, where there was more chance of any victim being Palestinian. It exploded harmlessly. Three Israelis have been killed so far in the seven days of intense attacks, while at least 108 Palestinians have died; more than half of them civilians. The Israeli army may be on hold, but in Gaza six people accused of collaborating with Israel were caught “red-handed” spying says Hamas. They were all executed.