UN food agency slashes Gaza aid by a third

The World Food Programme (WFP) is scaling back its food aid for needy people in the Gaza Strip by about a third due to funding gaps, the UN agency said on Monday. About half a million Palestinians in the war-scarred territory would no longer receive any aid, the WFP said in a statement.

The WFP had provided around 1.6 million Palestinians each month with food parcels, bread and cash since the ceasefire deal began in October 2025, it said. "WFP no longer has sufficient funding to sustain this level of support," the organization said. From October, the UN agency is supporting 1.1 million people, according to the statement.

The WFP needs $450 million for the next six months to maintain its aid in Gaza and the West Bank, WFP Deputy Director Carl Skau told the BBC on Monday. "We have to make sure we can help bring back normalcy and dignity to people's lives," he said. "Efforts need to be stepped up - it's not acceptable that people are suffering the way they are," he added.

The UN said people are still living in makeshift, unstable shelters or in the ruins of their homes, surrounded by sewage and mountains of rubbish. There are also few job opportunities and limited means of earning a living, while the situation in the coastal strip remains dangerous.

UN teams recorded around 50 attacks per day last week alone. Those still receiving WFP aid get less The organization has cut food rations by half, and hot meals would now be distributed less often, it said. According to the WFP, about 67% of the population in the Gaza Strip suffers from acute hunger "or worse." The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative, which monitors food crises around the world, currently no longer considers the territory affected by famine.

However, the population of the Gaza Strip is still heavily affected by acute malnutrition and food insecurity, the IPC said. The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli authority responsible for Palestinian affairs, has meanwhile stressed that the amount of aid deliveries exceeds the food needs of the population.

There was no acute food insecurity in the Gaza Strip, it said.