UN food agency cuts Gaza assistance by one-third amid funding shortages

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - The UN World Food Program (WFP) announced Monday that funding shortages have forced it to cut food assistance in the Gaza Strip by around one-third, leaving half a million people without critical support as winter approaches.

In a statement, the agency said it is now assisting 1.1 million vulnerable people in Gaza, down from 1.6 million last month, while food rations have been halved.

Families receiving assistance will now get one food parcel instead of two, along with a smaller bag of wheat flour, it said.

The number of daily hot meals has also dropped from 250,000 to 150,000, while families in hard-to-reach areas, including near the Israeli army-controlled "yellow line," will receive meals every other day instead of daily.

The agency has also reduced the value of cash assistance for 75,000 families.

According to WFP, an estimated 1.4 million people, or 67% of Gaza's population, face crisis-level food insecurity or worse, including around 200,000 experiencing emergency conditions requiring immediate food assistance to prevent deaths from hunger.

Only one in five children consumes a sufficiently diverse diet, while unemployment exceeds 80%, leaving many families unable to afford nutritious food.

WFP warned that "modest" improvements in food security since the October 2025 ceasefire remain "fragile" and could quickly be reversed by further reductions in humanitarian assistance.

Funding shortages have also forced the agency to halve its assistance in the occupied West Bank, from 400,000 to 200,000 people.

The agency said it urgently needs $450 million to sustain critical operations across Gaza and the West Bank over the next six months, through March 2027.

Beyza Binnur Dönmez