A Palestinian television channel said five of its journalists were killed in an Israeli attack in the central Gaza Strip.

They were traveling in a Quds Today van parked outside Al-Auda hospital in the middle of the Nuseirat refugee camp, where the wife of one of the reporters was about to give birth.

The channel posted a video of what it said was a burning vehicle with a “News” sign on the back door.

The Israeli Air Force said it carried out a “targeted attack under intelligence guidance” on a vehicle carrying members of the armed group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). It added that measures had been taken to minimize civilian casualties.

The BBC has not confirmed either side’s claims.

Quds Today is affiliated with the PIJ organization, which participated in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. This unprecedented attack triggered the Gaza War.

It was also reported that five people were killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza City on Wednesday.

The Palestinian Wafa news agency and Hamas-controlled Gaza’s health ministry also said another 20 people were injured in the city’s al-Zeitoun neighborhood.

The Israeli military has yet to comment on the reported bombings.

Meanwhile, the father of a two-week-old Palestinian girl told the BBC how his little girl froze to death in a tent in Gaza, the third child to die in similar circumstances in a week.

Mahmoud Ismail Al-Faseeh said he woke up in the freezing cold and found his daughter Sirah convulsing. She was rushed to the hospital but died of hypothermia, the head of pediatrics at Khan Younis Nasser Hospital told The Associated Press.

The family took refuge in the Mawasi area on the Gaza coast, an area designated a humanitarian zone by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), but came under airstrikes.

Two other babies – one three days old and the other one month old – died of hypothermia in the past 48 hours, said director of pediatrics Ahmed al-Farra.

Hopes for progress on a ceasefire have begun to fade in recent days, with Hamas and Israel blaming each other.

Hamas accused the Israeli government of imposing “new conditions” which it said had delayed the deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the group had violated an understanding already agreed on a possible ceasefire.

The latest statements mark a significant change in tone after both sides sent optimistic signals.

The Israeli military launched airstrikes and ground offensives in the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas attacks last year. Some 1,200 people were killed in the attack and 251 were taken back to Gaza as hostages.

Gaza’s health ministry says more than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive. According to the United Nations, nearly 2 million people, or 90% of the population, have been displaced.

Additional reporting by Jaroslav Lukiv.