Five people have been killed and 10 injured in Gaza when they were hit by a pallet of aid parachuted into the territory as part of a humanitarian airdrop.

Witnesses said the accident happened on Friday morning near the coastal refugee camp known as al-Shati, one of the most devastated parts of Gaza, after a parachute attached to the pallet failed to deploy properly and the parcel fell on a group of men, teenagers and younger children hoping to obtain food and other supplies.

Several hundred thousand people are facing famine in northern Gaza, where they live among the ruins of their homes, without sewage, electricity or any other basic services.

The casualties were taken to Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital, the emergency room’s head nurse, Mohammed al-Sheikh, said.

A witness from the camp said he and his brother had followed the parachuted aid in the hope of getting “a bag of flour”.

“Then, all of a sudden, the parachute didn’t open and fell down like a rocket on the roof of one of the houses,” said Mohammed al-Ghoul. “Ten minutes later I saw people transferring three martyrs and others injured, who were staying on the roof of the house where the aid packages fell.”

The US and Jordan are among the countries to have carried out airdrops in northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people are facing dire conditions after more than five months of war.

A US defense official told AFP that “the US did not cause the fatalities during our airdrop in Gaza,” while a Jordanian military source said none of the kingdom’s four aircraft that took part in the operation were involved in the fatalities.

“We are aware of reports of civilians killed as a result of humanitarian airdrops. We express sympathies to the families of those who were killed. Contrary to some reports, this was not the result of U.S. airdrops,” US central command said in a post on X late on Friday.

Referring to the five people killed on Friday, the government media office in Hamas-run Gaza said airdrops were “futile” and “not the best way for aid to enter”.

Aid agencies’ efforts to deliver humanitarian aid have been severely hampered by a combination of logistic obstacles, a breakdown of public order and lengthy bureaucracy imposed by Israel.

As the only entry points to Gaza allowed by Israel are in the south of the territory, any convoys have to traverse up to 25 miles (40km) of smashed roads strewn with rubble, with a continual threat of looting. Many convoys have been blocked or delayed by Israeli forces.

Last week, more than 100 people died when Israeli forces opened fire near an aid convoy in Gaza. Israeli military has said most died in a stampede. Palestinian officials and witnesses deny this.

“Any effort to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza is very welcome,” said Juliette Touma, the communications director at the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. “However, there is a much easier and more efficient way to respond to people’s desperate needs. This is through more consistent humanitarian deliveries via the road through the crossing points that connect Gaza with Israel.”

On Thursday, Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, said that all those concerned about the situation in Gaza should put pressure on the Israeli government to “grant unimpeded humanitarian land access” and not block convoys.

“Other options are not enough: airdrops good but insufficient, sea corridors needed but take time. And time is of essence,” Borrell said.

The UN has also said airdrops or a proposed maritime aid corridor could not be a substitute for land deliveries, urging more trucks to be permitted to reach Gaza through more border crossings.