A suicide bomber has killed a woman in the southern Israeli town of Dimona, the first such attack in over a year.
A suicide bomber has killed a woman in the southern Israeli town of Dimona, the first such attack in over a year.
Israeli investigators were checking whether the attacker came via Egypt after Palestinian militants breached the Gaza-Egypt border last month.
Israeli police said a second suicide attacker was shot dead before he was able to detonate his explosives belt.
Police said a second suicide attacker was shot dead before he was able to detonate his explosives belt.
Palestinian militants said the two were from Gaza and had entered Israel via Egypt. Thousands surged into Egypt when the border was breached last month.
A violent offshoot of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party claimed responsibility for the attack.
Hours later, Israeli aircraft bombed a car in northern Gaza, killing a senior commander of a militant group.
Hours later Israel's air force attacked the northern Gaza Strip, killing a Palestinian militant commander from the Popular Resistance Committees group.
Border chaos
The Dimona explosion happened in a commercial centre a few kilometres from the base which houses Israel's top-secret nuclear reactor.
The Dimona explosion happened in a commercial centre a few kilometres from the base which houses Israel's top-secret nuclear reactor.
"We heard a large explosion and people started to run. I saw pieces of flesh flying in the air," a witness told army radio.
"We heard a large explosion and people started to run. I saw pieces of flesh flying in the air," a witness told army radio.
Thousands of Palestinians poured out of the Gaza Strip unchecked when the Egypt-Gaza border was breached by the territory's de facto rulers Hamas on 23 January.
The attack came a day after Egyptian forces had finally resealed the border, two weeks after it was blown up by militants from the Hamas movement, de facto rulers of Gaza.
The border was resealed on Sunday by Egyptian forces.
Most Gazans had crossed the border, stocked up on much-needed supplies and returned to their homes, which are under a tight Israeli blockade.
Hamas praise
However, Israel had warned that Gaza-based militants could take advantage of the chaos to infiltrate its territory across the long and porous desert border between the Sinai peninsula and the Negev Desert.
Analysts said towns in the Negev desert, where Dimona is located, would be the most vulnerable if Palestinian attackers entered Israel from Egypt through the open border across the Sinai desert.
An al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades spokesman told a news conference that the operation had been planned for weeks, but was made possible after the Gaza border was blown up on 23 January.
A spokesman of the pro-Fatah Aqsa Martyrs Brigades told AFP news agency that two bombers from Gaza carried out the attack, with two other groups involved in the planning.
The spokesman said it was a joint operation between al-Aqsa, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which supplied the bombers, and another lesser-known faction.
However, other news organisations received an email from the Brigades saying the attackers were from the West Bank town of Ramallah.
However, it is still not clear whether the bombers took part in the exodus from Rafah, or if it had just facilitated their mission.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the bombing, but also criticised an earlier military raid in the northern West Bank in which Israeli commandos killed two Palestinian gunmen.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah party the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades profess loyalty to, condemned the bombing.
A Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, said Dimona attack was "a natural reaction to months of killing" of Palestinians by the Israeli army.
He also criticised an earlier military raid in the northern West Bank earlier in the day in which Israeli commandos killed two Palestinian gunmen.
A Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, said the Dimona attack was "a natural reaction to months of killing" of Palestinians by the Israeli army.
'Murderous terror'
Israel was pummelled by series of suicide bombings in the 1990s and 2000s, peaking after the Palestinian intifada or uprising broke out in 2000.
Israel was pummelled by series of suicide bombings in the 1990s and 2000s, peaking after the Palestinian intifada or uprising broke out in 2000.
However, there were only two such attacks between April 2006 and now, the last being in January 2007 when a bomber blew himself up in a bakery in Eilat, killing three people.
However, there were only two such attacks between April 2006 and now, the last being in January 2007 when a bomber blew himself up in a bakery in Eilat, killing three people.
Monday's blast is also the first since renewed efforts to come to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal were launched with US support last November.
Monday's blast is also the first since renewed efforts to come to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal were launched with US support last November.
Palestinian news agencies said Israel later assassinated Amer Qarmut, alias Abu Said, the most senior commander of the Popular Resistance Committees, in an air raid targeting his car.
His nephew, as well as a passerby, were wounded in the strike.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said Israel would continue to "fight against this murderous terror", but there was no word on whether the already-faltering peace talks would continue.
Israel argues that its blockade of about four million Palestinians in Gaza and large parts of the occupied West Bank is necessary to prevent such attacks.
Israel argues that its blockade of about four million Palestinians in Gaza and large parts of the occupied West Bank is necessary to prevent such attacks.
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