The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced a significant reduction in food assistance to the Gaza Strip amid a severe funding deficit, leaving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians at greater risk of hunger. The agency said it would halt monthly aid to 500,000 people, reducing the total number receiving support to about 1.1 million—roughly half of Gaza's population. Recipients will also receive smaller food parcels or reduced cash payments, reflecting the constrained resources.
Shaun Hughes, the WFP country director, emphasized that the cuts are not due to access restrictions but rather a lack of financial support. “This has been a lifeline. But now, rather than being able to sustain and scale up that assistance, we’re actually having to reduce it,” he said. According to recent assessments, approximately 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza—around two-thirds of the population—remain acutely food insecure, relying on humanitarian aid to meet their basic needs.
The cuts come amid ongoing conflict and displacement in Gaza, where nearly the entire population has been uprooted at least once. Palestinians living in the territory have expressed deep concern over the reduced aid. Sahar al-Najjar, a mother from Khan Yunis, described the situation as heartbreaking, noting her family’s reliance on aid to provide daily meals. “The hardest thing for a mother is to see her children hungry and be unable to provide food for them,” she said. Others, such as Ayman Daghmash from Gaza City, highlighted the challenges posed by the suspension of community kitchens alongside dwindling assistance. “If aid stops coming from every direction, how will we feed our children?” he asked.
The WFP’s cutbacks follow a sharp decline in funding, attributed in part to changing political dynamics, including reduced financial support from the United States after policy shifts over recent years. The agency reports needing about $450 million in the coming six months to sustain operations in Gaza and the West Bank, but current funding covers only about half that amount. Earlier this year, assistance in the West Bank was also substantially reduced.
Since a US-brokered ceasefire took effect one year ago, the WFP had been able to increase aid deliveries, though Israel continues to carry out military strikes in Gaza, targeting those linked to the October 7 attacks. Israel has allowed more goods into Gaza under the ceasefire terms but maintains stringent restrictions on shipments it deems potentially dual-use—that is, materials that could have military applications—including some humanitarian items such as prosthetic limbs, according to the United Nations.
Israel has criticized the UN heavily since the outbreak of the Gaza war, accusing the organization of bias and fostering dependency among the Palestinian population. In this complex humanitarian environment, the WFP’s latest funding shortfall threatens to exacerbate already dire food insecurity in Gaza, where millions remain reliant on international aid for survival.