A senior medical official in Gaza said on Thursday that 763 Palestinians have been killed and 3,120 others wounded in 13 days of Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Mo'aweya Hassanein, chief of emergency and ambulance services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, told reporters 763 people were killed and 3,120 wounded, including 375 in critical conditions, during the Israeli air and ground military operations.

"Many people are missing, most probably under the rubble of dozens of destroyed houses," said Hassanein, adding that 375 Palestinians in critical conditions need urgent medical treatments.

At the end of the three-hour Israeli unilateral cessation of air and ground strikes on the Gaza Strip Thursday, Israeli warplanes carried out three airstrikes and tanks fired at least five shells.

He said 11 Palestinians were killed and around 40 others wounded on Thursday, urging the world's humanitarian organizations to move as quickly as possible to stop a severe and real humanitarian crisis.

(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2009)