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The United Nations World Food Programme has reduced the number of people it assists with monthly food and cash support in Gaza from 1.6 million last month to 1.1 million starting this month. According to a statement issued by the agency, funding shortages have compelled the one-third cut in lifesaving assistance even though two-thirds of the population remains acutely food insecure. The World Food Programme noted that the reductions arrive as winter approaches and despite a ceasefire reached a year earlier, with conditions across the territory still dire.
In its announcement the World Food Programme detailed that families receiving food parcels will now get only one instead of two along with a smaller bag of wheat flour after rations were halved. The agency has lowered daily hot meals provided through community kitchens from 250,000 to 150,000, meaning families in hard-to-reach areas near the line of Israeli military control will receive them every other day rather than daily. It has additionally cut the value of cash assistance distributed to 75,000 families, the statement said.
The World Food Programme indicated it will maintain support for bakeries that cover one-third of Gaza’s bread needs, nutrition assistance to 300,000 women and children, and healthy school snacks for 200,000 children. Additional resources are nevertheless required to sustain emergency food aid, deliver engineering support and avert malnutrition among young children as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women, the agency warned. These continued activities represent a narrowed core of operations as broader funding constraints take effect.
The World Food Programme has received less than half the funding for its Palestine operations in 2026 compared with previous years. The agency stated it needs $450 million to keep critical activities running in Gaza and the West Bank from October 2026 through March 2027. A similar shortfall prompted the World Food Programme to halve its West Bank food assistance in September, reducing recipients from 400,000 to 200,000 at a time when food insecurity there has more than doubled since 2023.
An estimated 1.4 million people, or 67 percent of Gaza’s population, face crisis-level food insecurity or worse, according to the latest World Food Programme assessment. The agency reported that unemployment exceeds 80 percent while only one in five children consumes a sufficiently diverse diet, leaving most families unable to afford nutritious food despite stocked markets. Its September market monitor found 44 percent of households could not buy basic items, the World Food Programme added.
The cuts stem purely from financial shortfalls rather than any decrease in humanitarian needs or access problems, the World Food Programme emphasised. BBC News quoted Shaun Hughes, the agency’s country director for Palestine, as saying the reductions are occurring “not because the needs are coming down, or because we don’t have access – we do.” The World Food Programme described recent gains against famine risks as fragile and urged donors to help prevent reversal of progress amid competing global demands.
