World Food Programme cuts Gaza food assistance from 1.6 million to 1.1 million people as funding falls

19 October 2026

The World Food Programme said funding shortages have forced it to cut food assistance in the Gaza Strip by roughly one third, affecting some 500,000 people as winter approaches. The agency is supporting 1.1 million of the most vulnerable people this month, down from 1.6 million in September. Rations have been halved, so families will receive one food parcel instead of two and a smaller bag of wheat flour. The value of cash assistance to 75,000 families has been reduced, and daily hot meals across Gaza will drop from 250,000 to 150,000. Families in hard to reach areas, including near the yellow line of Israeli military control, will receive a hot meal every other day instead of daily. The agency continues to support bakeries covering a third of Gaza's bread needs, nutrition assistance to 300,000 women and children and school snacks for 200,000 students. About 67 per cent of Gazans, an estimated 1.4 million people, face acute food insecurity at crisis levels or worse, down from 77 per cent at the end of 2025, and more than 80 per cent of the population is unemployed. The agency says it needs 450 million dollars to maintain operations in Gaza and the West Bank through March.