The World Food Programme (WFP) announced this Monday, October 19, that a lack of funding had forced it to cut its assistance in Gaza by about one-third. This month, it is helping 1.1 million people, down from 1.6 million in September: about 500 thousand people are left without its monthly aid as winter approaches.
The cuts also affect those who continue to receive support. Families will receive one food parcel instead of two, along with a smaller bag of wheat flour. In addition, the value of cash assistance for 75 thousand families has been reduced.
Hot meal distributions will drop from 250 thousand to 150 thousand per day. In hard-to-reach areas, including those near the so-called Yellow Line under Israeli military control, families will receive one hot meal every other day instead of one each day.
Less food despite urgent needs
WFP estimates that around 1.4 million Gaza residents, nearly 67% of the population, face acute food insecurity at crisis levels or worse. Within that group, about 200 thousand people are in emergency conditions and need immediate food assistance to avoid starving to death.
The share of the population at crisis levels or worse has fallen from the 77% recorded at the end of 2025, but the agency warns that this improvement is fragile. More than 80% of the population is unemployed, preventing many families from buying fresh or protein-rich foods even when they are available.
For now, the agency continues to support bakeries that meet one-third of Gaza’s bread needs, provide nutritional assistance to 300 thousand women and children, and distribute school snacks to 200 thousand students.
Funding for its operations in Palestine for 2026 is less than half the amount received in previous years. WFP is urgently seeking 450 million dollars to sustain its critical operations in Gaza and the West Bank through March. In the latter territory, a lack of resources has already reduced the number of beneficiaries from 400 thousand to 200 thousand during September.
Image: Damaged buildings in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City. File photo from October 10, 2023: WAFA / APAimages, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
