The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is cutting food assistance to 500,000 Palestinians in Gaza as funding shortages force the agency to reduce support for families already facing severe food insecurity.
The agency said it would reduce the number of people receiving food and cash assistance from 1.6 million to 1.1 million. Those who continue to qualify will also receive smaller food parcels, less wheat flour and reduced cash payments, limiting the support available to households struggling to afford basic necessities.
The cuts come as winter approaches and hunger remains widespread across the territory. According to the WFP, around 1.4 million people, representing 67 per cent of Gaza’s population, face crisis levels of food insecurity or worse. Approximately 200,000 people remain in emergency conditions, where immediate assistance is needed to prevent deaths linked to hunger.
The agency has already halved its monthly food distributions, reducing deliveries from two parcels per family to one, alongside smaller quantities of wheat flour. Daily hot meal distributions have also fallen from 250,000 to 150,000. In areas where access is restricted, including locations near the boundary of Israeli military control, families will receive hot meals every other day instead of daily.
Cash assistance has also been reduced for 75,000 families. According to Euronews, monthly payments have fallen from 1,250 Israeli shekels to 750 shekels, equivalent to approximately $400 and $240 respectively.
Shaun Hughes, the WFP’s country director for Palestine, said the reductions were driven by a lack of money rather than a decline in humanitarian need or the agency’s ability to deliver food.
“And that’s not because we don’t have humanitarian access to deliver food; that’s because we don’t have funding,” Hughes told AFP.
The WFP received less than half of its previous annual funding for its operations in the Palestinian territories in 2026. It now needs $450 million to maintain assistance in Gaza and the occupied West Bank between October 2026 and March 2027.
The funding shortfall threatens progress made after the October 2025 ceasefire. The proportion of Gaza’s population facing crisis-level food insecurity or worse fell from 77 per cent at the end of 2025 to 67 per cent, according to the agency. However, the WFP warns that reductions in food distributions and financial support could undermine those gains, leaving vulnerable households with fewer ways to obtain food.
The pressure is compounded by widespread unemployment. More than 80 per cent of Gaza’s population remains unemployed, according to the figures cited by the WFP, making it difficult for many families to replace lost assistance with income from work.
Despite the cuts, the agency plans to maintain several targeted programmes. It will continue supporting bakeries that supply one-third of Gaza’s bread, provide nutritional assistance to 300,000 women and children, and distribute school snacks to 200,000 children.
The WFP has also reduced assistance in the occupied West Bank. In September, the number of people receiving support there fell from 400,000 to 200,000.
Child nutrition remains a particular concern. According to the WFP, only one in five children in Gaza consumes a sufficiently varied diet. The agency has warned that further reductions in assistance could increase the risk of malnutrition among children, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women.
With the WFP facing a substantial funding gap for the coming months, the scale of assistance it can provide will depend on whether additional resources become available. For families already relying on food parcels, hot meals and cash transfers to meet basic needs, the announced reductions mean less support at a time when food insecurity remains widespread.
