UN food agency cuts Gaza aid to half a million people
The World Food Programme is cutting food aid to about 500,000 people in Gaza because of funding shortfalls, according to the UN agency. It now supports 1.1 million people there, down from 1.6 million, and has halved rations. ABC News Australia also reported the cuts.
The World Food Programme is cutting assistance to hungry families in the Gaza Strip by roughly one third, affecting some 500,000 people as winter approaches, according to the UN agency's announcement on Monday, as reported by UN News. ABC News Australia also reported the cuts.
This month, the WFP is supporting 1.1 million of the most vulnerable people in Gaza, down from 1.6 million in September, according to UN News. Rations have been cut in half, so families will get one food parcel instead of two and a smaller bag of wheat flour, UN News and ABC News Australia reported.
The value of cash assistance to 75,000 families has been reduced, UN News reported, and ABC News Australia put the cut at 40%. The number of hot meals provided daily will drop from 250,000 to 150,000, UN News reported. Families in hard-to-reach areas, including near the "yellow line" of Israeli military control, will get a hot meal every other day instead of daily, the agency said.
"As we're now entering winter, I'm really worried that we're … cutting assistance to half a million people," WFP acting executive director Carl Skau said in an interview after visiting Gaza, ABC News Australia reported. "Where hunger spreads, instability follows," he said, according to ABC News Australia.
Since the October 2025 ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, WFP teams have reached about 1.6 million people a month, UN News reported. The agency warned that gains in food security "remain fragile and could quickly be reversed" if funding keeps falling, UN News reported. About 67% of Gazans, or 1.4 million people, face acute food insecurity at crisis levels or worse, UN News reported.
Funding shortages also hit the West Bank, where the number of people receiving help was cut in half, from 400,000 to 200,000, in September, UN News reported. The WFP's 2026 funding for its Palestine operations is less than half of previous years, and it urgently needs $450 million to keep critical operations going in Gaza and the West Bank through March, UN News reported.
What we know: The WFP has cut Gaza food aid recipients from 1.6 million to 1.1 million and halved rations.
What we don't: No second news outlet beyond ABC News Australia has independently reported these figures so far, and it is unclear whether new funding will arrive.
Where outlets agree The figures come from the World Food Programme's official announcement, which ABC News Australia also reported with an interview with the agency's acting chief.
Where they differ No government or other party has disputed the WFP's account, which blames a funding shortfall for the cuts.