bombers blew themselves up at a restaurant near the old bus station in Tel Aviv, reports said.
Ambulances waited in line to rush the wounded to hospitals following the attack, for which Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
The organization has carried out several suicide bombings since mid 2000 when Palestinians started a new Intifada, or uprising, after talks about Palestinian statehood failed with Israel.
Earlier militants had threatened revenge attacks after five Palestinians, including teenagers, were killed by Israeli soldiers after they apparently threatened Jewish settlers.
Sunday’s blasts went off at about 6:30 p.m. in an area where many foreign workers live, including from Eastern Europe, reports said. One of the explosions went off near a fast-food restaurant called "McChina," according to TV reports.
REMOVING WOUNDED
Bystanders were seen helping to remove the wounded from the scene with improvised means, using doors torn from their hinges as makeshift stretchers. A bystander who only gave his first name, Tomer, told Channel Two Television that he ran to help the wounded. "I saw a man without a leg. I saw horrible things, people without legs, without arms. I saw fingers," he said.
"This is further evidence of terrorist attacks supported by the Palestinian authority," said Raanan Gissin a spokesman of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in a first reaction.
ARAFAT CONDEMNS ATTACK
However Palestinian Chief Negotiator Saeb Erakat denied these accusations adding that "President Arafat condemns the attack." He stressed however that 154 Palestinians had been killed in recent weeks, "most of them women and children."
"I urge (U.S.) President Bush tonight (who) always condemns the killings of Israeli’s (to)…one day…also condemn the killing of Palestinian children." He told the Cable News Network that "the shortest way to end the violence is not by blaming each other."
Analysts have said however that the renewed Palestinian attacks are likely to boost support for hard-line policies of incumbent Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, ahead of the January 28 general elections.
FATAH MOVEMENT
The militant Fatah movement have been trying to persuade Islamic Jihad and the larger Hamas group to halt attacks on civilians in Israel, the Associated Press news agency reported. Talks in Cairo were to resume next week, but it was not clear if they would after Sunday’s blasts.
The area of the old bus station was the scene of a bombing in August, The Associated Press reported. Sunday’s attack was also the first bombing in an Israeli city since November, when a suicide bomber blew up a bus in Jerusalem, killing himself and 11 passengers.
