World Food Programme cuts Gaza food assistance for 500,000 people

The World Food Programme said on 19 October that a funding shortfall is forcing it to cut monthly food assistance in Gaza from 1.6 million people to 1.1 million. About 500,000 people will lose assistance in a territory where many families still depend on food aid.

Shaun Hughes, the WFP country director, told AFP the agency was cutting half a million people from its caseload as of October. The reduction amounts to roughly a third of those it had been helping, according to the BBC.

How food parcels and hot meals are changing

Community kitchens will provide 150,000 hot meals a day instead of 250,000, the BBC reported. Families in harder-to-reach areas near the Yellow Line, which marks an area of Israeli military control, will receive meals every other day rather than daily. ABC News also reported that hot meals in such areas have been reduced to every other day.

The new cuts follow reductions since July in cash transfers to about 500,000 people, according to the BBC. It reported that Gaza's markets have food, but many residents cannot afford to buy it. Nearly all of the territory's 2.1 million people remain displaced, and two-thirds rely on food aid, the BBC said.

Why WFP says it is cutting assistance

Hughes told the BBC the cuts were driven by finances, rather than falling need or a lack of access to Gaza. WFP received less than half as much funding for its Palestinian operations in 2026 as in previous years and says it needs $450 million to maintain critical operations over the next six months, the BBC reported.

WFP acting executive director Carl Skau told ABC News that traditional donors, including the US and Europe, had reduced funding. He also cited the cost of the Gaza operation and growing demands elsewhere. Skau described recent gains against famine as fragile and warned that reducing assistance could put them at risk.

WFP says it can continue supporting bakeries that provide about one-third of Gaza's bread and giving nutritional assistance to about 300,000 women and children, according to the BBC. Those programmes continue alongside the cuts to monthly assistance, parcels and community-kitchen meals.