Explosions rock Israeli city of Tel Aviv

Several women are directed to safety by Israeli police at the scene Sunday’s bombings.

Two suicide attacks left at least 23 people dead in Israel on Sunday. The bombers had targeted a crowded mall in Tel Aviv. Within hours, Israeli forces fired a barrage of missiles into the Palestinian-controlled area of Gaza. The violence came as the latest development in the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Witnesses said that the two Tel Aviv explosions came within 30 seconds of each other and injured more than 100 people. The blasts occurred in a low-income section of Tel Aviv where many laborers from other countries were visiting the mall. After the attack, many of the injured did not go to the hospital because they feared being kicked out of Israel for not having the proper visas – documents which would allow them to legally travel in the country. However, the Israeli government worked to get the message out that anyone who was hurt should go and get the medical treatment he or she needed.

Israel's government condemned the attacks and placed the blame on Palestinian leadership. Israeli officials said that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is not doing enough to crack down on and prevent terrorist attacks.

Palestinian officials also denounced the bombings and called for an end to all attacks against Israeli civilians. But a spokesman for Mr. Arafat blamed Israelis for fueling the violence in the region, saying that Israel's recent military actions in the Palestinian-occupied areas of the West Bank and Gaza contributed to the Middle East conflict.

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There were conflicting claims of responsibility for the suicide bombings. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a group that the U.S. State Department calls a terrorist organization, initially said it had carried out the attacks, but later the group said it had nothing to do with them. And a militant organization called the Islamic Jihad, which is also on the State Department's list of terrorist groups, said it was responsible, but that claim was not confirmed with the group's military.

Israeli officials said they expected the death toll from the attacks to rise.

After the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called an emergency meeting of his Cabinet ministers to discuss what to do next. While the meeting was underway, Israeli forces fired nine missiles at targets in Palestinian-controlled Gaza early Monday, according to witnesses. One of the targets was a workshop. Witnesses said that at least four people in a house were hurt when one of the Israeli missiles apparently missed its mark.