UN agency reduces 'lifeline' assistance to 500,000 Gazans
BEIT HANINA: The World Food Programme said Monday it would end monthly assistance to 500,000 people in Gaza due to a funding shortfall, despite acute needs in the war-battered Palestinian territory.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has announced it will reduce monthly aid to 500,000 Palestinians in Gaza due to a funding shortfall, despite dire needs in the war-torn territory. Prior to the cuts, 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza, about half the population, received either food or cash assistance from the UN agency each month. Shaun Hughes, the WFP country director, told AFP that the agency is reducing both the number of people receiving aid and the amount of assistance provided.
According to the latest assessments, 1.4 million people, or two-thirds of Gaza's population, are still acutely food insecure and require humanitarian assistance to survive. Palestinians in Gaza expressed distress at the aid reductions, with some families relying on the assistance to provide daily meals and community kitchens no longer operating.
The WFP will reduce the content of food parcels, with families receiving only one parcel instead of two and smaller bags of wheat flour. The agency, funded by governments and private donors, needs approximately US$450 million for its operations in Gaza and the West Bank, but has received only about half of the usual financing over the past year.
Israel, which has been occupying Gaza since 1967, has criticized the WFP and other UN agencies, accusing them of perpetuating dependency among Palestinians.
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