Gaza rockets slam into Israeli camp

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli government came under increasing pressure Tuesday to respond harshly to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip after a barrage wounded dozens of soldiers as they slept in their tents at an Israeli army base.

Despite the violence, U.S. officials urged Israel to show restraint, fearing heavy action in Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamic militant Hamas, could jeopardize new momentum in peace efforts with the Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has faced growing calls to respond to the near-daily rocket attacks out of Gaza. Israel has limited its response to brief, limited ground incursions and airstrikes aimed at rocket squads.

But after Tuesday's attack, along with a rocket last week that exploded near a nursery school in the southern town of Sderot, many Israelis are growing impatient.

"The question is not whether to create deterrence, but when," Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, a member of Olmert's ruling Kadima party, told Israel Radio.

Olmert held a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday with top security officials, where they discussed the attack. Officials said Israel decided to hold off on major military action for now, though it might step up air attacks on militants.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed, said Israel is hesitant about opening a second front at a time of rising tensions with Syria.

Israeli military officials confirmed Tuesday that the army is on high alert along the Syrian border amid allegations by Syria that Israeli aircraft entered Syrian airspace last week. Israel has refused to comment on last Thursday's incident.

The army is also reluctant to mobilize large numbers of troops during the Jewish New Year holiday, which begins Wednesday. Officials also are wary of damaging recent progress in peace efforts ahead of the U.S.-sponsored peace conference, expected in November.

Some Israeli leaders have urged Israel to consider non-military steps, such as cutting off fuel and power to Gaza. "I think we have tools to do this, tools that are not only military," Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told reporters.

In Washington, the State Department urged restraint.

"We would only counsel in this case, Israel, which has suffered injuries and losses as a result of attacks, to take into consideration the effects of what they might do in self defense on the overall political process," spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June after five days of fighting against the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israel has no relations with Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group, while it has embraced a new pro-Western government formed by Abbas in the West Bank.

Abbas has repeatedly condemned the rocket fire, saying it threatens the peace process. But he holds little sway in Gaza.

The rocket exploded in the army base around 2 a.m. Tuesday, spraying shrapnel that wounded more than 40 soldiers as slept at a base just north of the Gaza border. One soldier was in critical condition and 11 others were in serious condition, the army said.

The army said its ground forces struck back at the area militants used for the attack. A Gaza Health Ministry official, Dr. Moaiya Hassanain, said four civilians, including two children, were wounded.

Two small extremist groups, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for the rocket attack. But Israel held Hamas responsible for the violence, since it has done nothing to halt the attacks.

"It doesn't matter which terror group took responsibility. Gaza is totally controlled by Hamas, and it has the ability to stop this and decided not to," said Livni, the Israeli foreign minister.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum praised Tuesday's attack as a "victory from God." In Gaza City and in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, youths in Islamic Jihad scarves and T-shirts handed out sweets to motorists in celebration.

Olmert and Abbas held the latest in a series of meetings Monday, agreeing to set up senior negotiating teams. The sides hope to reach a general outline of a final peace deal in time for the conference.

The leaders have been meeting one-on-one and released few details about their discussions.

Palestinian officials said Tuesday that Abbas has hinted of progress on two of the most contentious issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: which territories that Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war will become part of a future Palestinian state and how the disputed holy city of Jerusalem will be shared, the officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity since they were not authorized to discuss diplomacy with the media.

But Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, a confidant of Abbas, said talk that the leaders have agreed on principles or documents are baseless. "The only thing they have agreed upon is to form a Palestinian-Israeli team to begin working on how to tackle these core issues," he said.

Israeli officials said Olmert and Abbas have worked out "overriding principles" toward a final agreement, but have not ironed out details.

Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, ending 38 years of military rule, but militants kept launching rockets at Israeli towns. The Israeli army has mounted several large-scale military operations in Gaza in the past two years, causing heavy casualties on both sides, but failing to halt the rocket fire.