World Food Programme cuts food aid to about 500,000 people in Gaza, citing funding shortfall

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday, October 19, that it is cutting food assistance to about half a million people in Gaza because of a shortage of funding, according to Reuters, The National and ABC News (Australia). The number of people receiving monthly assistance falls to 1.1 million from 1.6 million, Reuters reported, as Gaza approaches its fourth winter since the war began.

What is being cut

According to the WFP figures reported by Reuters and ABC News:

• Monthly food assistance: recipients cut by about a third, from 1.6 million to 1.1 million.
• Rations: halved, with families that received two food parcels now getting one. ABC also reported that parcels are 40% smaller and flour bags reduced.
• Cash assistance: cut for 75,000 families; ABC put the reduction in value at 40%.
• Hot meals: daily meals for people who cannot cook fall to 150,000 from 250,000, Reuters said. In hard-to-reach areas, including near the so-called yellow line under Israeli military control, some families now get a hot meal only every other day.

The WFP said it will prioritise the sick, children at risk of malnutrition and people whose safety is at risk, The National reported.

Why

Carl Skau, the WFP's acting executive director, said the cuts reflect funding, not lower need or an inability to bring food in. "This is only because we have less funding," he said, according to The National. He told ABC News that traditional donors, including the United States and European countries, had reduced funding, and he also cited the size and cost of the operation and demand elsewhere. The agency is asking for $450 million to keep critical operations running in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank over the next six months.

The WFP has been the largest single supplier of humanitarian food in Gaza, reaching about 1.6 million people a month since the October 2025 ceasefire, ABC reported. The National said the agency supports about 80% of the enclave's bakeries and has served up to 90% of families over the past three years.

The state of need

About 1.4 million people, two-thirds of Gaza's population, face crisis-level food insecurity or worse, around 200,000 of them in emergency conditions, Reuters reported. The National quoted Skau as saying almost one million Palestinians need food assistance and that food insecurity has more than doubled in three years. ABC said a WFP market survey in September found 44% of households could not afford basic food because of high prices. The UN lifted its August 2025 famine declaration in December 2025, citing the ceasefire, according to ABC.

Skau, who visited Gaza, described life as still brutal a year into the ceasefire. The National reported that UN teams recorded up to 50 airstrikes and other attacks a day in the past week. Reuters said little progress has been made on the next phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, Israeli forces hold more than 60% of the territory, and more than 2 million Palestinians live mostly in temporary shelters.

Responses

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office called the announcement "catastrophic", said it could accelerate famine and called for more funding for aid agencies, Reuters reported.

COGAT, the Israeli military body that handles Gaza logistics, said in a recent statement that aid and food are flooding into the enclave and released video of operating supermarkets and restaurants, ABC reported. Israeli authorities say aid enters daily and the situation is stable. Skau said Israeli restrictions on bringing in tools and goods are holding back recovery.

West Bank

The WFP is also cutting assistance in the West Bank, The National reported. The National cited the conflict-monitoring group ACLED as recording an average of 39 incidents a day from October 1 to 9, roughly double September's rate, and quoted Skau as saying settler attacks in the past two weeks exceeded the total for all of last year.