World Food Programme cuts aid to 500,000 Palestinians in Gaza due to funding shortfall

In October 2026, the World Food Programme cut monthly food assistance to 500,000 Palestinians in Gaza, lowering its coverage from 1.6 million to 1.1 million due to a $450 million funding deficit. Rations were halved, cash stipends reduced, and daily hot meals slashed from 250,000 to 150,000. With 1.4 million Gazans facing crisis-level food insecurity and 80% unemployed a year after the 2025 ceasefire, officials warn the winter cuts threaten fragile humanitarian progress.

WFP aid cuts in Gaza and West Bank

• ▪On October 19, 2026, the World Food Programme announced it is ending monthly food assistance to 500,000 Palestinians in Gaza, reducing its total monthly aid recipients in the enclave from 1.6 million to 1.1 million people.
• ▪The World Food Programme reduced daily hot meal distribution in Gaza from 250,000 to 150,000 meals, with deliveries in hard-to-reach areas near the Israeli-controlled yellow line falling from daily to every other day in October 2026.
• ▪Under the October 2026 World Food Programme aid reductions in Gaza, food ration parcels per family are halved from two to one, wheat flour bags shrink, and cash assistance values for 75,000 families fall from 1,250 to 750 shekels ($400 to $240).
• ▪The World Food Programme reduced monthly food assistance in the West Bank to 200,000 Palestinians in September 2026, down from 400,000 previously.

Displaced Gazans describe aid cuts

• ▪Displaced Gazan resident Sabrine Kuhail told news reporters in October 2026 that three years of war, siege, and hunger have left residents exhausted following World Food Programme aid cuts.
• ▪Displaced Gazan residents Khaled and Fatima Mohamed told news reporters in October 2026 that their families rely entirely on World Food Programme food parcels and cash assistance to survive amid high market prices for nutritious foods like eggs and chicken.

WFP warnings on winter and operating costs

• ▪World Food Programme country director Shaun Hughes and acting executive director Carl Skau warned in October 2026 that aid cuts arriving alongside winter could reverse fragile gains made in Gaza since the 2025 ceasefire.
• ▪World Food Programme acting executive director Carl Skau stated in October 2026 that shipping restrictions on tools, commodities, and fuel in Gaza inflate operational transport and warehousing costs, exacerbating the impact of funding cuts.

Causes Of WFP funding shortfall

• ▪The World Food Programme requires $450 million over the six months following October 2026 to maintain operations in Gaza and the West Bank, after receiving less than half its usual funding for Palestine in 2026.
• ▪World Food Programme officials cited donor fatigue, cuts to United States aid under President Donald Trump, and concurrent crises in Sudan and Yemen as primary drivers of its Palestine funding shortfall.

Food insecurity and child malnutrition

• ▪A UNICEF survey cited in October 2026 found that one in eight children in Gaza is chronically malnourished or stunted, while World Food Programme data showed only one in five children consumes a sufficiently diverse diet.
• ▪According to the World Food Programme September 2026 market monitor, 44 percent of Gaza households were unable to afford basic food items, and 44 percent of Palestinians in the territory went to bed hungry at least once in a 30-day period.
• ▪According to World Food Programme and Integrated Food Security Phase Classification assessments in October 2026, 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza, or roughly two-thirds of the population, face crisis-level acute food insecurity or worse, including 200,000 in emergency conditions.

Israeli stance on Gaza aid

• ▪According to the United Nations in October 2026, Israel has permitted more goods into Gaza under the ceasefire but continues to block items deemed to have potential military use.
• ▪The Israeli military logistical arm COGAT stated in October 2026 that Gaza is flooded with humanitarian aid and food supplies, asserting that the situation in the territory remains stable.

Stalled ceasefire implementation

• ▪One year after the October 2025 Gaza ceasefire agreement, promised reconstruction has not begun, 80 percent of Gaza's population remains unemployed, and Israeli forces hold over 60 percent of the territory.
• ▪Implementation of the October 2025 Gaza ceasefire deal has stalled over terms requiring Hamas to disarm and Israeli forces to withdraw from the territory.