ZIKIM, Israel – A Palestinian Arab rocket exploded in an Israeli army base early today, wounding more than 40 soldiers as they slept in their tents and drawing calls for a major military operation against militants launching rockets from the Gaza Strip.

The injury toll was the highest ever sustained in a single Palestinian Arab rocket attack. Prime Minister Olmert was scheduled to meet later today with top military and security officials and expected to discuss a response, Israeli officials said.

The army said its ground forces had already struck back at the area militants used for the most recent strike, but a Gaza health official said four civilians, including children, were wounded.

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. Of the more than 40 soldiers in nearby tents wounded, 12 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 strike came at a time when Israeli politicians and defense officials have been calling for a more aggressive Israeli response to the near-daily rocket barrages out of Gaza.

“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.

Four Palestinian civilians between ages 5 and 21, members of the same family, were wounded in the initial army response, according to Dr. Muawiya Hassanin of Gaza’s Health Ministry. Two were treated briefly and released, and two girls — ages 7 and 17 — remained hospitalized, Hassanin said. The army would not immediately confirm any civilian injuries.

Two small extremist groups, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for the attack in a joint statement faxed to reporters. Fearing retaliation, Islamic Jihad ordered its militants to avoid using cell phones and public transportation so they could not be tracked and targeted by Israeli forces.

Islamic Jihad has been responsible for nearly all rocket fire out of Gaza in recent weeks. But Israel has said it holds Hamas responsible for the violence, since the militant movement controls Gaza and has done nothing to halt the attacks.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum praised today’s attack as a “victory from God.” And in downtown Gaza City, a boy dressed in an Islamic Jihad scarf handed out sweets to motorists.

Another rocket hit an Israeli kibbutz near Gaza later this morning. Hamas militants also announced they had launched a mortar barrage at Kerem Shalom, a border crossing where humanitarian aid crosses from Israel into Gaza. No casualties were reported in either incident.

Crude homemade rockets land in southern Israel nearly every day. Although the rockets are inaccurate, they have killed 12 people in the past seven years, injured dozens and disrupted daily life in the area.

Attacks last week on the frequently targeted town of Sderot, including one that landed near a crowded nursery school, led parents to pull their children out of school and brought demands for harsh retaliation.

Israel’s Security Cabinet last week rejected calls for a large-scale Gaza invasion but threatened to cut water, electricity and fuel supplies to the impoverished strip. Tuesday’s attack could increase pressure on Olmert to order a major ground offensive in Gaza.

Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, ending 38 years of military rule, but militants continued launching rockets at Israeli towns. The Israeli army has mounted several large-scale military operations in Gaza over the past two years, with heavy casualties on both sides, but those moves had no long-term effect on the number of rockets hitting Israel.

The pre-dawn attack came a day after Israeli and Palestinian Arab leaders met in Jerusalem in advance of a November conference called by President Bush.

At their three-hour summit conference yesterday, Olmert and Palestinian Arab President Abbas discussed “ways of advancing the peace process and of reaching a two-state solution,” said Mr. Olmert’a spokesman, David Baker.

Mr. Abbas called the talks “successful” and said two working groups would be set up to draft outlines of a peace accord in advance of the November conference.

In gestures toward Mr. Abbas, Israel also pledged to release some Palestinian Arab prisoners during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins this week, and work on easing travel restrictions in the West Bank.

Mr. Olmert hopes to bolster Abbas and his Western-backed government in the West Bank after Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip in June. Abbas’ subsequent ouster of Hamas from the Palestinian government has freed the moderate leader to pursue peace efforts with Israel.

Mr. Abbas has condemned the recent wave of Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel, saying the barrages are threatening the peace process. While Mr. Abbas claims to have authority over Gaza, he has had little influence there following the Hamas takeover.