Humanitarian Relief Effort for Gaza by Sea

An international effort is gathering pace to get desperately needed humanitarian relief into Gaza by sea in a bid to counter overland access restrictions blamed on Israel as it battles Hamas militants.

The dire conditions more than five months into the war have led some countries to airdrop food and other assistance over the besieged Gaza Strip, but a parachute malfunction turned the latest operation lethal.

Five Palestinians were killed and 10 wounded north of the coastal Al-Shati refugee camp.

Jordanian and US military officials denied that aircraft from either country caused the fatalities.

"We express sympathies to the families of those who were killed," the US Central Command said in a statement.

Belgium, Egypt, France and the Netherlands were also involved in the airdrop.

The United Nations has repeatedly warned of looming famine in the Gaza Strip, which is under Israeli siege following the October 7 attack by Hamas that triggered the war.

UN agencies have urged increased overland access, insisting that air or sea delivery was ineffective.

Hamas's unprecedented October attack on southern Israel resulted in about 1,160 deaths, most of them civilians, according to Israeli official figures.

Israel has responded with a relentless offensive that the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said has killed at least 30,878 people, mostly women and children.

Hamas militants also took about 250 hostages, some of whom were released during a week-long truce in November. Israel believes 99 hostages remain alive in Gaza and that 31 have died.

After a week of talks with mediators in Cairo failed to produce a breakthrough, Hamas's armed wing said it would not agree to a hostage-prisoner exchange without the withdrawal of Israeli forces.