Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital

The United Nations on Monday said humanitarian work in the Gaza Strip has taken a serious blow after Israel ordered a new evacuation in the center of the besieged territory.

It came as the United States announced "progress" in Gaza truce talks underway in Cairo, even after a major but brief cross-border escalation between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon.

Five Palestinians were killed and several others were injured late Wednesday following an Israeli airstrike targeting a civilian vehicle in central Gaza.

Medical sources at Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital told Anadolu that medical teams transported five bodies and an unspecified number of injured from the strike.

The head of the Gaza Strip's biggest hospital said on Monday he had been "tortured" by Israel after being freed from more than seven months of detention.

Al-Shifa hospital director Mohammed Abu Salmiya was among more than 50 Palestinians released and returned to Gaza for treatment, according to an Israeli minister and a medical source in the besieged territory.