East Jerusalem: The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday that it would end monthly assistance to 500000 people in Gaza because of insufficient funding, despite continuing hunger, displacement and Israeli air strikes.
The cuts will leave approximately 1.1 million Palestinians receiving reduced food or cash assistance each month, compared with between 1.5 million and 1.8 million reached monthly since the ceasefire.
WFP country director Shaun Hughes said the reduction reflected a financial shortfall rather than an inability to deliver food.
He told AFP that daily air strikes and displacement continued, while almost everyone remained without a permanent home.
According to the agency’s latest assessments, approximately 1.4 million people, or two thirds of Gaza’s population, remain acutely food insecure and need humanitarian assistance to survive.
Families receiving food will now get one parcel instead of two, alongside a smaller bag of wheat flour.
Monthly cash assistance for 75000 families will fall from 1250 to 750 shekels, equivalent to approximately USD 400 and USD 240 respectively.
WFP said it needs around USD 450 million over the next six months for operations in Gaza and the West Bank. However, financing for the Palestinian territories in 2026 has reached only about half its usual level.
The agency, funded by governments and private donors, has faced declining resources, including following cuts to US international assistance under President Donald Trump.
In September, WFP also halved the number of recipients in the occupied West Bank, from 400000 to 200000.
Famine was declared in Gaza in August 2025. That classification was lifted in December, following a US brokered ceasefire announced two months earlier, although Israeli strikes have continued.
Hughes warned that conditions remained too severe to withdraw support. WFP said humanitarian needs could rise again as winter approaches.
Israel has allowed more goods into Gaza under the ceasefire but continues to restrict shipments it considers capable of military use. According to the UN, those restrictions have included prosthetic limbs.
