OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, January 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Twenty people were killed and around 100 wounded Sunday, January 5, in a double resistance attack in downtown Tel Aviv during the evening rush hour.

The blasts struck in rapid succession during rush hour on Nevi Shaanan Street in a poor district of the city with a large immigrant population, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The two Palestinians set off their charges on a crowded street near Tel Aviv's Old Central Bus Station Sunday evening.

Israeli sources said that foreign workers who work in Israeli factories are among the dead and the injured, adding that shops in the area were seriously damaged.

The leader of the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad stopped short of claiming responsibility.

"So far we have no information to confirm or deny the responsibility of the Jerusalem Brigades (Islamic Jihad's armed wing) for this operation," Ramadan Shallah told the Qatar-based satellite television Al-Jazeera.

"So far no official statement has been published by the Jerusalem Brigades claiming this operation," he said.

Earlier an anonymous caller purporting to represent Islamic Jihad had telephoned AFP in the West Bank town of Jenin to claim responsibility, adding that an official statement would follow.

But another caller from the larger Islamic resistance group Hamas rang AFP in occupied Jerusalem shortly afterwards to say it carried out the attack.

"We declare responsibility for the attack in Tel Aviv. We promise the Israeli occupation army more attacks in the next month," the caller said, speaking in English.

But speaking in Gaza City, senior Hamas figure Abdel Aziz Rantissi could not immediately confirm his organization's involvement.

Likewise, Mahmoud Al Zahar, a Hamas leader, said to Al-Jazeera that there was no statement issued by Hamas to adopt this attack was released.

Israeli police forces rushed to the area and started searching the surrounding neighborhoods in search for any one related to the attack.

Tel Aviv head police said all roads leading to scene of the attack were closed, adding that ambulances were finding difficulty to reach the scene because of the chaos in the streets.

Israeli television channel 1 said that the state of chaos also reached the security forces.

The attack comes days after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered his occupation army to strike harder against Palestinians, as a report accused the Israeli army of giving its forces free hand to kill innocent Palestinian civilians.

Sharon told the weekly cabinet meeting on Saturday, December 29, that the crackdown on Palestinian activists must be reinforced.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the double bombings in Tel Aviv, saying it would pursue with firmness those who were behind them.

The Palestinian leadership "denounces with force the condemnable operation that has targeted Israeli civilians," a statement said.

President George W. Bush on Sunday condemned the bombing as a "brutal act of terror," the White House said.

Bush "condemned the brutal act of terror in the strongest possible terms," a White House spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said the bombing was the result of Israel's abuses against the Palestinians.

He was speaking to reporters after a meeting here with the head of Israel's Meretz left-wing opposition party, Yossi Sarid, and former Israeli justice minister Yossi Beilin.

"The Israelis should understand that the continuation of abuses fuels violence and the continuation of operations such as the one today," Maher said.