The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today announced that funding shortages have forced it to reduce food assistance in Gaza by around one-third: half a million people will lose access to critical assistance. The cuts come as winter approaches and recent modest improvements in food security remain fragile.
For the past three years, WFP’s food assistance has provided a lifeline for up to 90 percent of families in Gaza. Since the ceasefire was announced in October 2025, the agency has been reaching around 1.6 million people every month with food parcels, wheat flour, bread, hot meals, nutrition support, school snacks and cash assistance. WFP no longer has sufficient funding to sustain this level of support.
Cuts to WFP assistance in Gaza
- From this month, WFP is supporting 1.1 million of the most vulnerable people in Gaza with food and cash assistance, down from 1.6 million last month.
- WFP has cut food rations by half. Families receiving food assistance will now receive only one food parcel (instead of two) and a smaller bag of wheat flour.
- The number of hot meals WFP provides has been reduced from 250,000 to 150,000 a day. Families living in hard-to-reach areas, including near the yellow line of Israeli military control, will receive a hot meal every other day instead of daily.
- WFP has also reduced the value of cash assistance provided to 75,000 families.
- For now, WFP is able to continue supporting bakeries that cover one-third of Gaza’s bread needs, provide nutrition assistance to 300,000 women and children and deliver healthy school snacks to 200,000 children.
- Funding shortfalls are also affecting WFP operations in the West Bank, where the agency halved the number of people receiving assistance by half - from 400,000 to 200,000 - in September.
