A Palestinian rocket exploded in an Israeli army base early Tuesday, wounding dozens of soldiers as they slept in their tents. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was scheduled to meet later Tuesday with top military and security officials, where they were expected to discuss a response to the attack, Israeli officials were quoted as saying by the Associated Press. The wounded soldiers were all recent recruits undergoing basic training at the army's Zikim base, just north of the Gaza-Israel border, and were asleep when the rocket hit an empty tent, the army said. More than 40 soldiers in nearby tents were wounded, including 12 who remained in serious condition, the army said. Ambulances roared up to the base's gate after the rocket hit before 2 a.m., and army helicopters evacuated the seriously wounded. The emergency room at Barzilai Hospital in the nearby city of Ashkelon was swamped with incoming casualties, and medics emerged from the hospital carrying empty stretchers covered in blood. The injury toll was the highest ever sustained in a single Palestinian rocket attack.
