UN agency slashes Gaza food aid over funding, warns needs persist

The United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it will reduce monthly food aid to 500,000 Palestinians in Gaza due to a funding shortage, despite ongoing dire needs in the conflict-ridden territory. With this reduction, 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza, roughly half of the population, will continue to receive either food or cash assistance, though in diminished amounts.

The WFP highlighted that its efforts have mitigated the effects of famine in Gaza last year, but warned that conditions have not improved sufficiently to sustain the current level of aid. Shaun Hughes, the WFP's country director, emphasized the persistent challenges in Gaza, noting that daily airstrikes, displacement, and lack of permanent housing continue to affect the population.

According to the latest assessments, 1.4 million people, or two-thirds of Gaza's population, are still "acutely food insecure" and in need of humanitarian assistance. Although the UN's Integrated Food Security Phase Classification lifted the famine classification in Gaza in December, following a US-brokered ceasefire, Israel has maintained ongoing strikes in Gaza since then, vowing to target anyone involved in the October 7 attack.

Since the ceasefire, the WFP has been able to expand its assistance, reaching between 1.5 million and 1.8 million people monthly. However, the agency is now compelled to reduce aid and the content of food parcels. Families receiving food assistance will receive only one parcel instead of two and a smaller bag of wheat flour. Those receiving assistance in cash will see their monthly allotment decrease from 1,250 to 750 shekels (~$400 to $240).

The WFP, funded by governments and private donors, requires approximately $450 million for its operations in Gaza and the West Bank over the next six months but has only received about half of the usual financing. In September, the agency also reduced the number of aid recipients in the West Bank from 400,000 to 200,000. Hughes stressed that now is not the time to abandon the situation in Gaza, emphasizing that while conditions have moderately improved, the needs could escalate again with the onset of winter.

Israel has increased the flow of goods into Gaza under the terms of the Trump ceasefire but maintains stringent restrictions, blocking items deemed potentially military, including prosthetic limbs. Israel has also escalated its criticism of the UN since the Gaza war, accusing the organization of bias and dependency perpetuation among Palestinians.