In brief
The World Food Programme (WFP) has disclosed plans to cut the number of people it serves in Gaza from 1.6 million to 1.1 million, a cut of roughly a third, due to a dramatic drop in donor funding. Hot meals from community kitchens will drop from 250,000 to 150,000 a day and families in hard‑to‑reach regions will receive food every other day. Residents like Dalal al‑Dahdouh and Mervat al‑Satari warn that the reductions will deepen living hardships. The WFP estimates it urgently needs $450 million to keep critical operations running for six months. With most of Gaza’s 2.1 million residents displaced and two‑thirds dependent on aid, the cuts threaten to push an already dire crisis further into famine territory.
The World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it will reduce the number of Gaza residents it supplies by about a third, from 1.6 million to 1.1 million, because donor contributions have fallen sharply.
Hot meals delivered by community kitchens will be cut from 250 000 to 150 000 each day, and families in hard‑to‑reach areas will receive a meal every other day rather than daily.
"It’s a disaster! What will we do with these reduced rations? How will we provide for the little ones?" said Mervat al‑Satari, a mother of five living in the al‑Mawasi camp near Khan Younis. She added that the portions provided—often only pasta or lentils—were already too small to feed her family.
WFP’s Palestinian director, Shaun Hughes, explained that the cuts are due to finances, not a decline in need, and that the agency requires $450 million to keep critical operations running for the next six months.
Since July, cash transfers to some half‑million Gazans have been reduced, and the number of Gaza residents receiving flour and ration boxes will fall from 1.1 million to 600 000 each month. Despite a ceasefire brokered a year ago, reconstruction remains stalled, and Israel restricts goods entering the enclave.
With around 80 % of Gaza’s 2.1 million population displaced and two‑thirds relying on aid, the funding gap threatens to deepen an already dire humanitarian situation and heighten the risk of famine as winter approaches.
