The World Food Programme (WFP) announced on October 5 that it is sharply reducing its response in Gaza because of a funding shortfall, leaving about 500,000 people without essential support. According to the UN agency, funding for its Palestine operations in 2026 is less than half the level of previous years.
The WFP said it urgently needs an additional $450 million to sustain core operations in the occupied Palestinian territory over the next six months. The funding gap has forced the organization to adjust the scale of its assistance across the region.
Specifically, the number of people receiving monthly support in Gaza will fall from 1.6 million to 1.1 million. Food parcels will be cut from two per family to one, and flour bags will be smaller than before.
The number of hot meals provided each day will drop from 250,000 to 150,000. Families in hard-to-reach areas, including those near the so-called "yellow line" that marks Israel's military control zone, will receive a hot meal only every other day instead of daily.
According to the WFP, the cuts come as more than three years of conflict in Gaza have collapsed education, health care and the economy, and turned access to food, clean water, shelter and other basic needs into a daily struggle. Gaza's Health Ministry says more than 74,245 Palestinians have been killed.
UN estimates show more than 80% of the population is unemployed and cannot afford fresh or protein-rich food even when it is available. Only one in five children eats a sufficiently diverse diet, while access to health services remains limited.
About 1.4 million people, or 67% of Gaza's population, are at crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse. That is down from 1.6 million people, or 77% of the population, at the end of 2025, but the WFP described the improvement as "still modest and fragile."
Earlier funding shortfalls have also hit operations in the occupied West Bank, where the number of people receiving support was halved in September, from 400,000 to 200,000.
