Motorbike bomber strikes Tel Aviv

An injured man is stretchered into a waiting ambulance

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- A bomber riding a motorcycle wounded several people in Tel Aviv when he detonated an explosive device, according to Tel Aviv police.

Eleven people were injured, one of them seriously, but the only known fatality is the bomber, police and medical sources say.

The suicide bomber struck on Friday morning in a busy shopping district of central Tel Aviv, near the city's old bus station.

In the West Bank, two Hamas activists, suspected of carrying out terror attacks against civilian and military targets, were arrested Friday by Israeli troops

And in southern Gaza, two Palestinians were killed when Israeli troops intercepted an armed group trying to enter an Israeli settlement in Gush Katif Thursday evening, the IDF said. Palestinian sources said they were members of Hamas.

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Israeli forces entered the West Bank village of Talouza, north of Nablus, and left the area after making the two arrests, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The operation came a day after Bakr Hamdan, a Hamas activist, was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Israel said Friday that Hamdan "was personally responsible for dozens of terrorist attacks carried out against Israeli civilians and soldiers in the Gaza" and was killed while he was preparing a major attack against Israeli targets there.

Palestinian sources told CNN that two other Palestinians were seriously wounded in the attack, which took place in the Khan Younis area. The wounded were identified as Hazem Nashwan and Hazem Nimer, the son of Hamas leader Ahmad Nimer.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack and said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is trying to further derail Mideast peace initiatives.

The IDF said Hamdan "was a part of the Hamas network which was led in the last year by Salah Shahada -- a network responsible for most of the serious terror attack which took place in the Gaza" over the last year, including the attack earlier this month on the outpost near Kerem Shalom in which four Bedouin soldiers were killed.

"The PA (Palestinian Authority) knew of Hamdan's activities and even arrested him on January 10 while he was armed and released him shortly after that. The PA took no steps to stop his activity."

Hamas, a fundamentalist Islamic group with a military wing that carries out terror and military attacks against Israelis, vowed an "all out war" against Israel after four Palestinians were killed a few days ago during a raid at a house in Nablus. The IDF said the four were Hamas bombmakers and the house was a bomb factory.

Following a recent Israeli attack, Hamas spokesman Mahmoud Zahhar said, "This is a terrorist attack by Israel and is part of the continuous Israeli crimes against the Palestinians."

He said there had been a brief period of calm, but now "through Israeli provocation and after their crimes, no one can deny us the right to respond."

Elsewhere, near Bethlehem, the IDF said police arrested 10 Palestinians "suspected of terror activities and criminal activities against Israeli civilians and IDF forces."

"The IDF will continue to act in order to protect the security of Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers," IDF said in a statement.

In another significant development late Thursday, Sharon's office said the Israeli prime minister has accepted an invitation from President Bush to meet with him in the United States in two weeks

Israeli military sources confirmed Friday that Israeli troops withdrew from the neighborhood of A-Tira in Ramallah.

Near Bethlehem, the IDF said police arrested 10 Palestinians "suspected of terror activities and criminal activities against Israeli civilians and IDF forces."