diff --git a/src/hatch_openzim/files_install.py b/src/hatch_openzim/files_install.py
index 15b98c3..b6a5e00 100644
--- a/src/hatch_openzim/files_install.py
+++ b/src/hatch_openzim/files_install.py
@@ -194,6 +194,8 @@ def _process_extract_items_action(
         for index, zip_path in enumerate(zip_paths):
             item_src = Path(tempdir) / str(zip_path)
             item_dst = base_target_dir / str(target_paths[index])
+            if item_dst.parent and not item_dst.parent.exists():
+                item_dst.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
             shutil.move(src=str(item_src), dst=item_dst)
 
     if "remove" in action_data:
diff --git a/tests/configs/full.toml b/tests/configs/full.toml
index 6acd346..eb230c5 100644
--- a/tests/configs/full.toml
+++ b/tests/configs/full.toml
@@ -38,6 +38,12 @@ source="https://tmp.kiwix.org/ci/hatch_openzim_testsets/testset2.zip"
 zip_paths=["keep1/file1.txt"]
 target_paths=["file123.txt"]
 
+[files.part2.actions.action5]
+action="extract_items"
+source="https://tmp.kiwix.org/ci/hatch_openzim_testsets/testset2.zip"
+zip_paths=["keep1/file1.txt"]
+target_paths=["action5/subfolder1/file123.txt"]
+
 # part without any actions
 [files.part3.config]
 target_dir="part3"
diff --git a/tests/test_files_install.py b/tests/test_files_install.py
index a045ee9..82c7f7b 100644
--- a/tests/test_files_install.py
+++ b/tests/test_files_install.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ def nominal_files():
         "part1/somewhere/something.txt",
         "part1/somewhere_else/something.txt",
         "part2/file123.txt",
+        "part2/action5/subfolder1/file123.txt",
         "part2/action2/file1.txt",
         "part2/action2/file2.txt",
         "part2/action3/file1.json",