RAMALLAH, West Bank?In a widening conflict, 11 Palestinians were killed and more than 20 injured in fighting Thursday. A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a hotel at the entrance to a Jewish settlement in the West Bank and an Israeli motorist was seriously wounded.

Israel broadened its assault on Palestinian targets, raiding two West Bank refugee camps, shelling Palestinian police positions and firing missiles at Yasser Arafat’s headquarters as he met there with the European Union’s Mideast envoy. The blast blew out windows in the room where the two met moments before.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon defended Israel’s stepped-up military strikes against unprecedented criticism from the Bush administration, which until now had said Israel had the right to defend itself against attacks by Palestinian militants.

Arafat, meanwhile, said Palestinians would not be cowed by the intensifying Israeli strikes.