UN agency slashes Gaza food 'lifeline' over funding shortfall

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) has announced that it will need to cut aid to approximately half a million people in Gaza due to a funding shortfall. This decision comes as winter approaches and recent improvements in food security remain fragile. WFP acting executive director Carl Skau emphasized that the cuts are not due to reduced needs or the organization's inability to deliver food, but rather a lack of funding.

Skau described the situation in Gaza as "absolutely brutal," noting that people are living in makeshift shelters or destroyed homes surrounded by sewage and garbage, and have no access to jobs or income. Over the past three years, WFP had been providing aid to up to 90% of families in Gaza, with about 1.6 million people receiving monthly parcels and other food aid since the October 2025 ceasefire.

However, funding cuts mean that hundreds of thousands will lose access to the programme. Skau stated that services will focus on the most vulnerable, including the sick, children at risk of malnutrition, and those whose safety is at risk. In the West Bank, where Israeli settler violence has increased recently, the situation is also turning dire.

WFP's Skau described the annual olive harvest as a flashpoint for conflicts between settlers and Palestinian farmers, with an average of 39 incidents per day recorded by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project from October 1 to October 9. The recent violence has surpassed the number of attacks in the previous year. Skau emphasized that the crisis in the West Bank has shifted from a human rights and protection crisis to a hunger crisis, with almost a million Palestinians now requiring food assistance.

The situation in the West Bank is expected to worsen further due to planned settlement expansion, with the government approving numerous new settlements and legalising numerous outposts.