UN food agency to cut aid to 500,000 people in Gaza as funding dries up

The World Food Programme (WFP) is set to reduce monthly aid to 500,000 Palestinians in Gaza due to a significant funding shortfall, according to a UN agency announcement on Monday. This reduction leaves around 1.1 million Palestinians, or half of Gaza's population, still receiving food or cash assistance each month. Since the ceasefire in October 2025, the WFP had been providing aid to between 1.5 million and 1.8 million people monthly.

Shaun Hughes, the WFP's country director, expressed disappointment, stating, "This has been a lifeline. But now, rather than being able to sustain and scale up that assistance, we're actually having to reduce it." The cuts involve reducing food parcels from two to one and cutting wheat flour bags. Cash recipients will also see their monthly payments decrease from 1,250 to 750 shekels ($400 to $240).

Despite the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with conditions not improving enough to justify the cuts, Hughes emphasized the ongoing violence and displacement. Nearly 1.4 million people, accounting for two-thirds of Gaza's population, remain severely food insecure and in dire need of aid. The WFP warns that the situation could worsen with the incoming winter.

In August 2025, the UN classified Gaza as being in famine conditions, a claim Israel dismissed as false. Israeli strikes continue despite the ceasefire, and Israel restricts goods entering Gaza, excluding certain items deemed potential military use, like prosthetic limbs, according to the UN. The WFP's financial resources have dwindled, partly due to the US contributing less to UN agencies under the Trump administration.

Currently, the WFP requires approximately $450 million for Gaza and the West Bank over the next six months but has only received around half of its regular funding for the Palestinian territories in 2025. In September, the WFP cut its assistance to the West Bank to 200,000 people from 400,000. Hughes stressed, "Now is not the time in the history of Palestine and Gaza to turn away from what is happening in Gaza."