Earlier on Friday, the US Central Command announced that “A US C-130 dropped over 11,500 meal equivalents, providing life-saving humanitarian assistance in northern Gaza” in a joint operation with Jordan, AFP reports.

But highlighting the danger of delivering aid by air, a medic at Gaza’s largest hospital said on Friday that a drop had killed five people and wounded 10.

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.

The United States launched its first airdrop of food into Gaza on March 2, providing more than 38,000 meals, then dropped more than 36,000 on Tuesday and more than 38,000 on Thursday.

But the number of people in need of aid in Gaza is much greater than can be fed by drops alone.