Gaza rocket hits Israeli army base, wounds 30

Zikkim (Israel), Sep 11: A rocket launched by Palestinian militants in Gaza today wounded 30 soldiers in Israel, an attack likely to increase pressure on Israeli leaders to crack down on the Hamas-controlled territory.

The Popular Resistance Committees and Islamic Jihad groups jointly claimed responsibility for the strike on Zikkim training base for new conscripts just north of the border, two days before Israel celebrates Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

An army spokesman said about 30 soldiers were wounded by the rocket, four of them seriously. Officials at hospitals in southern Israel said some 50 soldiers were brought in but some were suffering only from shock.

The number of wounded was the highest in a single rocket attack launched from the Gaza Strip, which Hamas Islamists took over during fighting against the long-dominant Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas three months ago.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the group ''blessed'' the rocket attack ''which brought pride to Palestine''.

Israeli media reports said shrapnel from the rocket ripped through a tent where soldiers were sleeping. Dozens of parents with sons and daughters serving in Zikkim flocked to the camp and clamoured at its gates for word on their children's fate.

Hours after the predawn salvo, a missile fired by Israeli forces hit a home in Beit Lahiya, a Palestinian town in northern Gaza, locals said. A woman and her daughter were wounded.

A military spokesman said troops operating in Beit Lahiya attacked a site from which the rocket was launched at Zikkim.

Militants in Gaza frequently fire Qassam rockets across the border. Most land harmlessly but since a Palestinian uprising began in 2000, 12 people have been killed in the salvoes.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said he convened cabinet colleagues and security chiefs to discuss a response.

CALLS FOR RETALIATION The strike on the army base seemed certain to boost calls in Israel for a large-scale ground operation in the Gaza Strip against militants behind the rocket launchings.

''I think that, long, long, long ago, years back, we should have responded with a mighty force,'' Industry and Trade Minister Eli Yishai told Israel's Army Radio.

''There will be no choice but to take action, ultimately,'' he said. ''There will be discussions, the military will makes its proposals, and the government will decide.'' Questions also were likely to be raised in Israel over why recruits at the base were sleeping in tents, rather than in more secure structures, in an area prone to rocket attacks.

Last week, Olmert's security cabinet decided against launching a major assault in the Gaza Strip after a rocket landed near a children's day care centre, opting instead for what it called ''pinpoint attacks'' against militants.

Israeli leaders said at the time they would also examine the possibility of cutting off Israeli-supplied power to the Gaza Strip, which is dependent on electricity and fuel from its neighbour, if the rockets continued to fly.

Israeli officials have said that sending in troops to confront well-armed Palestinian gunmen would lead to heavy casualties on both sides.

Olmert is also in the midst of talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who broke with Hamas and whose mandate has effectively been reduced to the occupied West Bank, ahead of a US-sponsored peace conference in November.

Israel pulled troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005. But militant groups consider the territory still occupied because Israel controls its borders, air space and coastal waters.

Reuters
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