The World Food Programme will drastically reduce lifesaving assistance to the Gaza Strip as funding for its Palestinian operations in 2026 reached less than half of previous years. The number of people helped by the agency in Gaza will drop from 1.6 million to 1.1 million.
Community kitchens will provide 150,000 hot meals each day, down from the previous 250,000. Families living near the Yellow Line will receive a meal every other day instead of the daily distribution.
Monthly distributions of flour bags and ration boxes to Gazans will fall from 1.1 million to 600,000. Since July, the agency has already reduced cash transfers for some 500,000 people.
Nearly all of the 2.1 million people in Gaza remain displaced, with two-thirds of the population depending on food aid to survive. More than 80% of the population is unemployed, and no cooking gas is available because the Israeli government classifies it as a dual use item.
The World Food Programme urgently needs $450 million to maintain critical operations over the next six months. Shaun Hughes said, "Cuts to food assistance are going to compound that hardship that families have been facing for three years now."
The agency continues to provide nutritional assistance to about 300,000 women and children, including health food snacks for some 200,000 children. Support remains for bakeries that provide one-third of Gaza's bread needs.
In the occupied West Bank, the World Food Programme is continuing to give assistance to some 200,000 Palestinians, though it halved the number of recipients there in September.
Mervat al-Satari said, "It's a disaster! What will we do with these reduced rations? How will we provide for the little ones?"
Mervat al-Satari
