Tuesday, 11 September 2007
More than 30 Israeli soldiers have been injured, three seriously, in a rocket attack from Gaza, reports say.
The rocket landed near an army base in southern Israel. The wounded were treated at the scene of the explosion.
Preliminary reports suggest Tuesday's early morning attack led to the largest number of injuries sustained in a single attack of this kind on Israel.
Palestinian militants frequently fire rockets at Israel, but they rarely cause high numbers of casualties.
The Israeli Army confirmed the rocket hit the training base near Zikkim, just inside Israeli territory.
Most of the wounded soldiers were hit by shrapnel while sleeping in adjacent tents.
The Popular Resistance Committee's armed wing said it carried out the attack, Israeli media say.
Psychological impact
Militants in Gaza frequently fire Qassam rockets towards southern Israel, most of which land in the town of Sderot. 
Few of the attacks cause casualties but their psychological impact on life in the area has been significant.
Attacks last week on Sderot included one that landed near a crowded day care centre.
It led parents to pull their children out of school and brought demands for harsh retaliation.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, told the country's military to draw up plans to curb rocket attacks from within the Gaza Strip.
It stopped short of calls from some ministers to expand military operations in Gaza, or to cut Israel's supplies of water and electricity to the territory.
Israel's government blames the rocket attacks on the Islamist movement Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June.
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