JERUSALEM — A Kassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit an Israeli army training base, wounding at least 69 soldiers, the army said. It was the largest number of casualties sustained by Israel from an attack of this kind, an army spokeswoman said.

Four soldiers were in serious condition, an army spokeswoman said by telephone, speaking anonymously by regulation. The rocket hit a storage tent early yesterday, and most of the soldiers, sleeping in surrounding tents, were wounded by shards, she added. The base is near Kibbutz Zikkim, located about 0.6 miles inside Israel.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, called the launching of rockets “unacceptable. Israel will act to defend its sovereignty and people.” He didn’t elaborate. Prime Minister Olmert of Israel and top security advisers on September 5 instructed the army and Foreign Ministry to draft a plan for disrupting utility services to the Gaza Strip in response to Palestinian rocket attacks. Later yesterday, Mr. Olmert was expected to convene security officials to discuss Israel’s response, the daily Ha’aretz said.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said at a press conference in Jerusalem, according to Ha’aretz, that Israel has “means, means which are not only military” to stop the Kassam fire.

The assault came hours after Mr. Olmert and the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, met in Jerusalem to narrow the gaps between their approaches to Palestinian statehood to ensure progress at a regional conference later this year.

Mr. Regev said the militants behind the rocket attacks “will do everything they can to destroy the chances of such a historic reconciliation.”

Both the Islamic Jihad’s military wing and a Palestinian Arab umbrella organization called the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the attack in faxed leaflets.

Dozens of Islamic Jihad supporters handed out sweets on Gaza City streets, praising the attack.

“I hail Saraya al-Quds and the Palestinian Resistance Committees and appeal to them to carry out more operations,” a university student, Ahmed al-Sheikh, said as he participated in the rejoicing.

The Palestinian Authority’s information minister, Riyad el-Malki, said in an interview broadcast on the Ramallah, West Bank-based 93.6 RAM FM radio that militants were trying to provoke an Israeli retaliation on Gaza that would allow a weakened Hamas to rally support in the impoverished strip. “The attack was not surprising,” he said.

Yesterday’s talks in Jerusalem, part of a series of twice-monthly meetings between Messrs. Olmert and Abbas, saw the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, who is also finance minister, participate for the first time. The leaders decided to set up a framework in which Israeli and Palestinian Cabinet ministers would hold meetings to discuss their areas of expertise.