A rocket exploded in an Israeli army base early Tuesday, wounding 69 soldiers and drawing calls for a major military operation against militant bombers in the Gaza Strip.

A wounded soldier is carried after a rocket attack on an Israeli army base near the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
(Tsafrir Abayov/Associated Press)

The wounded soldiers were all recent recruits undergoing basic training and were asleep when the rocket hit an empty tent, the army said.

Several soldiers in nearby tents were seriously wounded in the attack, more than 40 were lightly injured and several others were suffering from shock, according to the army.

Tuesday's incident marks the largest number of injuries ever sustained in a single rocket attack by a militant bomber and came at a time when Israeli politicians and defence officials have been calling for a more aggressive Israeli response.

"Long ago, several years ago, we should have responded strongly…. In the end, we will have no choice but to act," cabinet minister Eli Yishai told Army Radio on Tuesday morning.

Two small Palestinian extremist groups, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for the rocket attack in a joint statement faxed to reporters.

Fearing retaliation, Islamic Jihad ordered its militants to avoid using cellphones and public transportation so they could not be tracked and targeted by Israeli forces.

The army confirmed that its ground forces responded to the attack by taking action in the area where militants earlier launched the rocket that hit the base.

Israeli fire wounded four Palestinian civilians between the ages of five and 21, members of the same family, in northern Gaza on Tuesday morning, according to Dr. Muawiya Hassanin of Gaza's Health Ministry.

Two girls — a seven-year-old and a 17-year-old — remained hospitalized, Hassanin said.

Frequent violence

Towns throughout the Gaza Strip have been battered by thousands of projectiles in recent months, with much of the violence linked to militants.

One rocket hit an Israeli kibbutz near Gaza only a few hours after the attack on the army base, the army said.

In a separate attack, Hamas militants announced they had launched a mortar barrage at Kerem Shalom, a border crossing where humanitarian aid crosses from Israel into Gaza. There were no casualties in either attack.

One attack last week in Sderot, a town on the Israeli-Gaza border, saw a rocket land near a crowded day-care centre, causing parents to pull their children out of school.

Many citizens called for retaliation, but Israel's Security Cabinet last week rejected calls for a large-scale Gaza invasion.

The cabinet did threaten to cut water, electricity and fuel supplies to the impoverished strip.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has repeatedly said that Israel would show no restraint in its efforts to stem the attacks from Gaza, but has thus far resisted ordering a land invasion. The military does carry out almost daily ground and air strikes aimed at rocket-launching squads in northern Gaza.