WFP cuts Gaza food assistance as funding falls short

The World Food Programme said funding shortages have forced it to cut assistance in Gaza by about one-third, reducing the number of people receiving food and cash support from 1.6 million last month to 1.1 million. Families still covered will receive one food parcel instead of two and less wheat flour, while daily hot meals will fall from 250,000 to 150,000.

WFP says 1.4 million people — about 67% of Gaza’s population — remain in crisis-level acute food insecurity or worse, including roughly 200,000 in emergency conditions. Those are humanitarian estimates based on the IPC classification, not a count of individual diagnoses. The agency said modest improvements since the October 2025 ceasefire remain fragile and could be reversed as winter approaches.

The agency received less than half as much funding for its Palestine operation in 2026 as in previous years and says it needs $450 million for Gaza and the West Bank through March 2027. Reuters and the Guardian separately reported the announced cuts. WFP can currently continue bakery support, nutrition assistance for 300,000 women and children, and school snacks for 200,000 children, but the reductions leave half a million people without the assistance they received last month.