Five killed in Gaza aid drop parachute failure - reports

Five people have died after a parachute failed on an aid package dropped by air into Gaza on Friday, reports say.

An eyewitness and the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said the five were killed when at least one parachute failed to deploy and a parcel fell on them, the BBC's US partner CBS reports.

AFP news agency quoted a Gaza doctor as saying five people were killed. The BBC has not independently verified this.

It is unclear which air drop was involved in the incident.

The US, Jordan, Egypt, France, the Netherlands and Belgium have been dropping aid into Gaza in recent days as concerns about famine among the population grow.

Jordanian state TV quoted a source as denying that a Jordanian aircraft was involved in the incident.

CBS News reported the incident happened at about 11:30 local time (09:30 GMT). US Central Command confirmed a joint air drop of aid into Gaza with the Royal Jordanian Air Force happened at about 13:30 local time.

US Gen Patrick Ryder said its air drop was not involved in the incident, adding "we've confirmed that all of our aid bundles landed safely on the ground".

The UN says a quarter of Gaza's 2.3m population is on the brink of famine and children are starving to death.

A video posted to social media on Friday and verified by BBC News shows aid dropping from a C-17 cargo plane over al-Shati, north of Gaza City, in an area largely cut off from assistance in recent months.

While most of the large packages of aid fall with parachutes deployed, one fails to open and falls in a more uncontrolled way.

It is difficult to say from the video, a screenshot from which is above, what may have gone wrong. We do not know if this footage captures the incident in which people were reportedly killed.

Aid organisations have been critical of the air drops, saying they were a last resort and incapable of meeting the soaring need.

On Friday the EU, UK, US and others said they planned to open a sea route to Gaza to deliver aid that could begin operating this weekend.

The US has said it will construct a temporary harbour to ship aid directly into Gaza, but US officials have said it will take weeks to make.

Western countries have pressed Israel to expand delivery of aid by road, facilitating more routes and opening additional crossings.

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said: "We continue to urge Israel to allow more trucks into Gaza as the fastest way to get aid to those who need it."

Israel denies impeding the entry of aid to Gaza and accuses aid organisations of failing to distribute it.

Aid lorries have been entering the south of Gaza through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah crossing and the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing. But the north, which was the focus of the first phase of the Israeli ground offensive, has been largely cut off from assistance in recent months.

An estimated 300,000 Palestinians are living there with little food or clean water.

Last week more than 100 people were killed trying to reach a ground aid convoy amid the growing desperation. Palestinians said most were shot by Israeli troops.

The Israeli military, which was overseeing the private aid deliveries, on Friday said its troops did not fire at Palestinians around an aid convoy but at "suspects" nearby who they deemed a threat.

Israel's military launched an air and ground campaign in Gaza after Hamas's attacks on Israel on 7 October, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 253 others were taken hostage.

More than 30,800 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the territory's Hamas-run health ministry says.

Additional reporting by BBC Verify