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The World Food Programme (WFP), one of the main suppliers of food aid to the Gaza Strip, says it is being forced to “drastically reduce lifesaving assistance” because of funding shortages, according to the BBC.
The number of people receiving help from the UN agency will fall by about a third, from 1.6 million to 1.1 million. The cuts come as winter approaches and many families continue to struggle to feed themselves.
Community kitchens will reduce the number of hot meals they provide each day from 250,000 to 150,000. Families in hard-to-reach areas, including near the so-called Yellow Line that marks Israel’s area of military control, will receive a meal every other day instead of daily.
Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.1 million people remain displaced, and two-thirds rely on food aid to survive. “It’s a disaster! What will we do with these reduced rations? How will we provide for the little ones?” said Mervat al-Satari, a displaced mother of five at a camp in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis. She said her family sometimes waits for the meals to eat.
“This will affect us a lot. The daily aid was somehow ticking the box but now it will be every two days,” said Sawsan Bahloul, a mother of three from al-Mawasi. She said portions from the community kitchen—usually pasta or lentils, and occasionally potatoes and aubergines—were already too small to feed her family.
Shaun Hughes, the WFP’s director for Palestine, said the cuts were due to finances, “not because the needs are coming down, or because we don’t have access—we do.” Since July, cash transfers to some half a million people have already been reduced, leaving them with less money to buy food in local markets. The number of people receiving WFP flour bags and ration boxes will fall from 1.1 million to 600,000 each month.
The WFP received less than half as much funding for its Palestinian operations in 2026 as in previous years. It says it urgently needs $450m (£338m) to maintain “critical” operations over the next six months.
Food insecurity persists despite ceasefire
Humanitarian conditions in Gaza remain dire despite a ceasefire agreed between Hamas and Israel a year ago. There has been no reconstruction and little recovery, while Israel tightly controls the entry of goods through crossings. Food markets are now well stocked, but few people can afford to buy from them. More than 80% of Gaza’s population is unemployed, and most people rely on aid.
Families receiving WFP food handouts told the BBC the supplies were already insufficient and offered little variety. “The flour isn’t enough and the food boxes aren’t enough either,” said Dalal al-Dahdouh, who lives with her family of eight in the ruins of their home in Gaza City. She fears the new cuts will have “a major impact”.
Al-Dahdouh contrasted the current situation with life before the war, when her family had a home, fresh vegetables, proper sanitation facilities and its own land. “Now we live entirely on aid, including WFP vouchers,” she said.
Cooking gas is unavailable in Gaza because the Israeli government considers it a “dual use” item that could be used by Hamas for military purposes. Wood is expensive, so many families send children to look for plastic and cardboard to burn as fuel for making bread or heating food.
Hughes said people were living in “brutal conditions”, with most still without proper homes and living in tents, and with poor access to water, sanitation and healthcare. “Cuts to food assistance are going to compound that hardship that families have been facing for three years now,” he told the BBC.
Humanitarian workers say acute food insecurity and the risk of famine returning continue to loom over Gaza, despite a modest improvement compared with a year ago. In July, the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC), described as the world’s foremost experts on food security, reported that two-thirds of the population—1.4 million people—were “expected to face crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity in July-December 2026”.
The WFP says it can continue supporting bakeries that provide one-third of Gaza’s bread needs and provide nutritional assistance to about 300,000 women and children. It also delivers health food snacks to some 200,000 children.
In the occupied West Bank, the WFP continues to assist about 200,000 Palestinians, after halving the number of recipients in September. The agency says food insecurity is rising there, mostly because of increased Israeli settler violence and Palestinian displacement.
