We should have a different word or phrase for the Qassams that get fired at Israeli schools and hospitals without breaking perennially fragile ceasefires. Maybe like "magic rockets" or "not rockets" or "mystery rockets". I dunno, maybe those sound awkward to you. But it should definitely be something fun:

A Qassam rocket fired from northern Gaza Sunday evening landed in an open area in the western Negev town of Sderot. One man was reported as suffering shock and was taken to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon... "Everything is alright at home," the mayor told Ynet, "the problem here is not a personal one, but a political one. People are under the impression that there is a ceasefire (with the armed Palestinian groups in Gaza), but a few dozen rockets have been fired at Israel since the truce went into effect.

In January there was no ceasefire - so the Palestinians fired dozens of rockets on Israeli civilians.

But then in March there was a fragile "lull" - yet the Palestinians were still firing dozens of rockets at Israeli civilians. Sometimes they got as high as 30 in a single day. Several of them scored direct hits.

In April Hamas was back to rejecting ceasefires - so the Palestinians fired dozens of rockets at Israeli civilians and attacked on Israeli soldiers.

But then in May there was a fragile "calm" - despite how the Palestinians were firing dozens of rockets, scoring direct hits on malls and synagogues and commercial districts and kibbutzim.

And then in June there was a fragile "truce" - and yet the Palestinians were still firing dozens of rockets at Israeli civilians. Both Hamas and the oh-so-moderate Fatah peacemakers got in on the action.

Then in July there was a fragile "lull" - dozens of rockets.

And then in August there a fragile "ceasefire" - dozens of rockets.

So perhaps fragile lulls, calms, and ceasefires don't stop the Palestinians from attacking Israeli civilians. The September version of the ever-fragile ceasefire has even seen attacks on Israeli soldiers:

Two bombs exploded on Thursday near Israeli troops patrolling the border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, causing no injuries, in the first such incident since a ceasefire took hold in June. The first blast occurred near an Israeli army vehicle and caused damage to the border fence, an army spokeswoman said... The previously unknown "Attawheed Brigades" militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in response to Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement.

The thing about Gaza: it's positively crawling with these mysterious, well-armed, well-motivated previously unknown groups.

References and Previously after the jump...