GAZA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Monday that funding shortages had forced it to cut food assistance to around 500,000 people in the Gaza Strip, reducing its monthly beneficiaries from 1.6 million to 1.1 million.
In a press statement, the agency warned that recent improvements in food security remained fragile as winter approaches and declining humanitarian funding threatens to reverse the gains.
Starting this month, the WFP has halved food rations, with families receiving one food parcel instead of two, along with smaller quantities of wheat flour, according to the statement.
The agency has also reduced daily hot meal distributions from 250,000 to 150,000 and cut the value of cash assistance provided to 75,000 families.
Despite the cuts, the WFP will continue supporting bakeries that supply about one-third of Gaza's bread needs, providing nutrition assistance to 300,000 women and children, and distributing school snacks to 200,000 children.
According to the latest food security assessment cited by the WFP, around 1.4 million people, or 67 percent of Gaza's population, are experiencing acute food insecurity at crisis levels or worse, classified as Phase 3 or above under the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
The agency said it had received less than half the funding for its operations in Palestine in 2026 compared with previous years and urgently needed 450 million U.S. dollars to maintain operations in Gaza and the West Bank from October 2026 to March 2027. ■
