A newborn baby girl froze to death on Christmas Eve in the Gaza Strip , near Khan Younis, as Israel and Hamas continued to accuse each other of complicating efforts to reach a ceasefire that could have ended the 14-month war.

The girl's father told the Associated Press, which has also received reports of two other young children dying in the past three weeks. They all froze to death in tents in refugee camps .

The 3-week-old baby died in one of the camps along the coast where the cold is taking its toll. Aid groups are struggling to deliver food and supplies and say they lack blankets, warm clothes and firewood. Israel has increased the amount of aid allowed into the territories, but it remains far below the real needs, even by the United Nations' own admission.

The dead girl's father, Mahmoud al-Faseeh, told the AP that he saw her motionless and purple-faced, and wrapped her in a blanket in the tent where his family is staying in the Muwasi area outside Khan Younis, when temperatures dropped to 9 degrees. They rushed her to a field hospital where doctors tried to revive her, but her lungs had already deteriorated .

AP images of Sila, the girl's name, showed the child with purple lips and bruised skin. Ahmed al-Farra, director of the pediatric department at Khan Younis' Nasser hospital, confirmed that the girl died of hypothermia. He said two other children, one 3 days old and the other 1 month old, had been taken to the hospital in the past 48 hours after dying of hypothermia .

In the camps, everyone is hoping for a peace agreement, but Hamas has once again accused Israel of dictating new conditions to delay the agreement, while the Israeli government has accused Hamas of reneging on agreements already reached . However, both sides have said that discussions are ongoing.

And during the night five journalists ("They are terrorists", replies Israel) were killed in an Israeli raid on Nuseirat , in the center of the Gaza Strip. They worked for the Palestinian TV Al-Quds, linked to the Islamic Jihad , and were aboard a parked van that was hit in the attack. The five, the same broadcaster said in a statement, died "while carrying out their journalistic and humanitarian duty. We reaffirm our commitment to continue our media message of resistance".

(Online Union)

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