A senior Gaza medical official said on Wednesday that 1,010 Palestinians were killed and 4,600 others wounded since Israel launched air and ground offensive on Gaza Strip.

Gaza emergency chief Mo'aweya Hassanein told reporters that so far 1,010 Palestinians were killed, and 4,600 others wounded, adding that around half of them are civilians.

Hassanein said 26 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday in a series of air and ground strikes on buildings and houses all over Gaza Strip, mainly on eastern Gaza City and northern Gaza Strip.

He added that among the dead Palestinians, 225 are children and 69 are women. He did not say how many militants have been killed since the beginning of the Israeli offensive on December 27 last year.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) that rules the strip announced on Wednesday evening that it has accepted an Egyptian-brokered initiative to reach a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza Strip.

The Gaza-based local news agency of "Ramattan" quoted senior Hamas sources as saying that the movement has accepted the initiative of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

In Gaza, senior Hamas leaders and spokesmen were unreachable as they were hiding for 19 days in fear that Israeli warplanes would target them personally. Several houses belonging to Hamas leaders in Gaza were destroyed.

However, the local news agency, which sent an urgent message to Gaza journalists' mobile phones saying that "special sources told the agency that Hamas has accepted the Egyptian initiative."

(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2009)