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WFP Forced to Cut Gaza Aid Amid Funding Shortages
· Confirmed
In Short: France 24 (France) reported that the WFP warned funding shortages will leave about 500,000 people in Gaza without critical food aid, while the BBC noted that the WFP received less than half the funding for its Palestinian operations in 2026 compared to previous years.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is cutting food assistance in Gaza due to severe funding shortages, impacting millions of people in the Palestinian territory. According to the BBC (United Kingdom), the WFP urgently needs $450 million to maintain critical operations over the next six months.
Both outlets agree that the WFP is drastically reducing lifesaving assistance in Gaza. The BBC reported that the WFP is cutting the number of people it supports from 1.6 million to 1.1 million, while France 24 stated that the WFP is reducing the number of recipients of its monthly assistance to 1.1 million from 1.6 million.
The BBC also highlighted that food rations have been halved, cash assistance has been cut for 75,000 families, and the number of daily hot meals for those unable to cook has fallen to 150,000 from 250,000, with some families in hard-to-reach areas now receiving a hot meal only every other day.
France 24 and the BBC both reported that two-thirds of Gaza's population, or about 1.4 million people, face crisis levels of food insecurity or worse, including roughly 200,000 people in emergency conditions.
The BBC quoted WFP acting Executive Director Carl Skau, who said, “We tell the world now is this is not the time to look away. This is the time to step up to sustain this support, to protect the progress that has been made, but also to push for early recovery.” Skau added, “It's a year into the agreement of this ceasefire. Well, life is still brutal here. There is no proper shelter. There is no basic services. There is no safety, no security.”
Dalal al-Dahdouh, a resident of Gaza, told the BBC, “The flour isn't enough and the food boxes aren't enough either.” She lives in the ruins of her home with her family of eight.
Sawsan Bahloul, a mother of three, said, “This will affect us a lot. The daily aid was somehow ticking the box but now it will be every two days.” She also noted, “In the past, thank God, we had our own home and a wonderful life. We had fresh vegetables, proper sanitation facilities and our own land. Sometimes we wait for these meals to eat. Now we live entirely on aid, including WFP vouchers.”
Both the BBC and France 24 reported that the WFP is cutting food assistance across Gaza because of funding shortages, reducing the number of people it supports from 1.6 million to 1.1 million as families continue to face severe hardship.
The BBC reported that the number of Gazans given bags of flour and ration boxes by the WFP will now fall from 1.1 million to 600,000 each month, and the overall number of people helped by the UN agency will drop by about a third, from 1.6 million to 1.1 million.
France 24 noted that the WFP is reducing the number of recipients of its monthly assistance to 1.1 million people from 1.6 million, and food rations have been halved, cash assistance has been cut for 75,000 families, and the number of daily hot meals for those unable to cook has fallen to 150,000 from 250,000, with some families in hard-to-reach areas now receiving a hot meal only every other day.
Both outlets agree that the WFP is drastically reducing its assistance in Gaza, with the number of hot meals provided by community kitchens being cut from 250,000 to 150,000 each day, and the number of people receiving food aid being reduced from 1.6 million to 1.1 million.
In the occupied West Bank, the WFP is continuing to give assistance to some 200,000 Palestinians, having halved the number of recipients in September, according to the BBC.
What's confirmed
- The WFP said about 1.4 million people, or two-thirds of Gaza's population, face crisis levels of food insecurity or worse, including roughly 200,000 people in emergency conditions.
- "These cuts are happening just as we are facing the fourth winter. You know, I've been through the winters here, absolutely brutal," he added.
- "It's a year into the agreement of this ceasefire. Well, life is still brutal here. There is no proper shelter.. There is no basic services. There is no safety, no security," acting Executive Director of the World Food Program WFP Carl Skau told Reuters in Gaza.
- The WFP said it urgently needs $450 million over the next six months to maintain critical operations in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
What's still developing
- "It's a disaster! What will we do with these reduced rations? How will we provide for the little ones?"
- The Palestine director for the WFP, Shaun Hughes, is clear that the cuts are being made because of finances, and "not because the needs are coming down, or because we don't have access - we do."
- The WFP received less than half as much funding for its Palestinian operations in 2026 as in previous years.