The United Nations World Food Program announced on Monday that severe funding shortages have forced it to cut food assistance in the Gaza Strip by approximately one-third. The measure leaves half a million people without support ahead of the winter season.
In an official statement released from Geneva, the agency stated that it is currently assisting 1.1 million vulnerable people in Gaza. This figure marks a sharp decline from the 1.6 million people reached last month.
Under the revised distribution plan, food rations have been reduced by half. Families receiving aid will now obtain a single food parcel instead of two, alongside a smaller bag of wheat flour.
Daily hot meals have dropped from 250,000 to 150,000. Families living in hard-to-reach areas, including locations near the Israeli army-controlled yellow line, will receive meals every other day rather than daily.
The agency also reduced the value of cash assistance provided to 75,000 families. According to World Food Program figures, roughly 1.4 million people, or 67 percent of Gaza’s entire population, face crisis-level food insecurity or worse.
This total includes about 200,000 individuals experiencing emergency conditions that require immediate food assistance to prevent deaths from hunger. Only one in five children consumes a sufficiently diverse diet, while unemployment has climbed past 80 percent, leaving most households unable to afford nutritious food.
The agency warned that modest improvements in food security observed since the October 2025 ceasefire are fragile. It cautioned that these gains could quickly reverse due to further reductions in humanitarian aid.
Financial shortfalls have also compelled the organization to halve its operations in the occupied West Bank, reducing assistance from 400,000 to 200,000 people.
The agency stated that it urgently requires $450 million to sustain operations across Gaza and the West Bank over the next six months, lasting through March 2027.
