For an endless afternoon, our eyes watered and our hearts pounded and our world stood still.

It was more than an hour after sunset, and the 70-year-old recruiter was working at his home office when a neighbor pounded on his door and yelled about a fire.

As they waited, Israel pounded the strip with air strikes, killing at least 113 people since the deal was first agreed in principle on Wednesday night, according to the Hamas-run civil defence agency in Gaza.

As the home crowd roared, the second-year quarterback pounded his chest twice with both fists.

Soon after dusk, a neighbor pounded on Betsy Kahn’s door on Alpine Villa Drive, flames visible on the mountain behind him.