UN food program cuts aid to 500,000 Palestinians in Gaza

UN food program cuts aid to 500,000 Palestinians in Gaza amid funding shortages

The full report

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced major cuts to its Gaza response due to a funding shortage, leaving about 500,000 people without critical support.

The WFP said it received less than half as much funding for its Palestine operation in 2026 as in previous years and urgently needs a further $450 million to maintain critical operations in the occupied Palestinian territory over the next six months.

As a result, the WFP said it would reduce the number of people receiving monthly assistance in Gaza from 1.6 million to 1.1 million, with rations being cut from two food parcels per family to one and bags of flour being smaller.

The UN agency also said it would reduce the number of hot meals provided, from 250,000 to 150,000 a day, and families living in hard-to-reach areas would receive a hot meal every other day instead of daily.

More than three years of conflict have brought the collapse of education, healthcare, and the economy in Gaza, while access to food, water, shelter, and other basic necessities has become a daily struggle.

An estimated 1.4 million people, or 67 percent of Gaza's population, are experiencing acute food insecurity at crisis levels or worse, with only one in five children consuming a sufficiently diverse diet and access to health services remaining limited.

The WFP had already announced cuts to aid for the West Bank in early September, citing funding shortages and donor fatigue, and the Israeli authority responsible for the Palestinian territories, COGAT, claims there is no acute food insecurity in Gaza.