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The World Food Programme, or WFP, is cutting assistance for families facing hunger in the Gaza Strip by about one-third. According to UN News, the measure, announced on Monday, October 19, 2026, will affect around 500,000 people. The cuts come as food needs remain urgent and winter approaches.
Aid coverage shrinks
In October 2026, WFP provided assistance to 1.1 million of Gaza’s most vulnerable residents. That figure was down from 1.6 million people in September. Over the past three years, the United Nations agency said its food assistance had served as a lifeline for up to 90 percent of families in Gaza.
Since the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas fighters in October 2025, WFP teams have reached around 1.6 million people each month. The support has been delivered through food parcels, wheat flour, bread, hot meals, nutrition assistance, school snacks, and cash assistance.
WFP said improved humanitarian access and aid delivery since October 2025 had helped reduce food insecurity. However, the agency warned that the progress remained fragile and could quickly be reversed if humanitarian funding continued to decline.
Rations and hot meals reduced
Family rations have now been cut in half. Each family will receive only one food parcel instead of two, along with a smaller bag of wheat flour. The value of cash assistance for 75,000 families has also been reduced.
The number of hot meals provided each day across Gaza will fall from 250,000 to 150,000 portions. Families in hard-to-reach areas, including areas near the yellow line under Israeli military control, will receive hot meals every other day instead of daily.
For now, WFP can still support bakeries that meet one-third of Gaza’s bread needs. The agency also continues to provide nutrition support to 300,000 women and children, as well as healthy school snacks for 200,000 students.
Food insecurity remains acute
The cuts come as more than 80 percent of Gaza’s population is unemployed. This leaves many families unable to afford fresh produce or protein-rich foods, even when they are available.
Around 67 percent of Gaza’s population, or an estimated 1.4 million people, face acute food insecurity at crisis level or worse. That figure is down from 77 percent at the end of 2025, but WFP said the improvement remained limited and fragile. Around 200,000 people remain in emergency conditions and need immediate food assistance to avoid dying of hunger.
Conditions among children are also a concern. Only one in five children consumes an adequately diverse diet, while access to healthcare and other essential services remains limited.
Operational funding remains insufficient
WFP stressed the need for additional resources to sustain emergency food assistance ahead of winter. Funding is also needed to provide essential technical support and prevent malnutrition among young children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers.
Funding for WFP operations in Palestine throughout 2026 amounts to less than half the level received in previous years. The agency needs 450 million dollars to maintain essential operations in Gaza and the West Bank through March.
The funding shortage has also affected operations in the West Bank. In September, the number of aid recipients there was cut in half, from 400,000 to 200,000 people.
