The World Food Programme has announced deep reductions to its food aid operations in the Gaza Strip, scaling back the number of people it supports from 1.6 million to 1.1 million due to severe funding shortfalls.
The United Nations agency said it is being forced to "drastically reduce lifesaving assistance" just as winter nears and with nearly all of the enclave's 2.1 million residents remaining displaced. Two-thirds of the population depends on food aid to survive, while more than 80 percent of people are unemployed.
Under the reductions, hot meals prepared by community kitchens will fall from 250,000 to 150,000 per day. In hard-to-reach locations, such as communities near the Israeli military control boundary known as the Yellow Line, residents will receive hot food only every other day. Monthly distributions of flour sacks and ration boxes will also drop from 1.1 million recipients to 600,000.
WFP Palestine director Shaun Hughes said the retrenchment is driven entirely by resources, noting cuts are being implemented "not because the needs are coming down, or because we don't have access - we do."
The agency reported receiving less than half as much funding for its Palestinian operations in 2026 as in previous years. It urgently requires $450 million to keep critical operations running over the next six months. The cuts follow reductions started in July to cash transfers that supported roughly 500,000 residents.
Although a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was agreed a year ago, humanitarian conditions remain bleak across the strip. Reconstruction has not taken place and recovery remains minimal as Israel tightly controls the entry of goods through border crossings. Cooking gas remains prohibited by Israeli authorities as a "dual use" item, forcing families to send children into streets to gather cardboard and plastic to burn as fuel.
Hughes warned that the reduction in rations will worsen the plight of Gazans living in tents with inadequate water, sanitation, and healthcare. "Cuts to food assistance are going to compound that hardship that families have been facing for three years now," Hughes said.
The WFP said it will continue aiding bakeries that produce one-third of the territory's bread and providing nutritional assistance to 300,000 women and children. In the occupied West Bank, the agency currently supports 200,000 people, having already halved its recipient numbers in September amid displacement and rising violence from Israeli settlers.
