{"success":true,"data":{"id":"94ebef1e-f5bf-4a49-8850-186ce3469079","title":"Funding shortages force World Food Programme to cut aid to Gaza","summary":"Dalal al-Dahdouh said the WFP food handouts her family received were insufficient even before the cuts By Yolande Knell Middle East correspondent,Reporting from Jerusalem One of the main suppliers of food aid to the Gaza Strip, the Worl...","content":"# Funding shortages force World Food Programme to cut aid to Gaza\n\nDalal al-Dahdouh said the WFP food handouts her family received were insufficient even before the cuts\n\nBy Yolande Knell\n\nMiddle East correspondent,Reporting from Jerusalem\n\n**One of the main suppliers of food aid to the Gaza Strip, the World Food Programme (WFP), says that it is being forced to \"drastically reduce lifesaving assistance\" to the Palestinian territory due to funding shortages.**\n\nOverall, the number of people helped by the UN agency will drop by about a third - from 1.6 million to 1.1 million.\n\nThe cuts will hit as winter approaches and at a time when many families in Gaza are still struggling to feed themselves.\n\nOne effect is that the number of hot meals that are currently being provided by community kitchens will be cut from 250,000 to 150,000 each day.\n\nFamilies living in hard-to-reach areas, for example near the so-called Yellow Line, which demarcates Israel's area of military control, will receive a meal every other day instead of daily.\n\nNearly all of Gaza's 2.1 million population remains displaced and two-thirds rely on food aid to survive.\n\nMervat al-Satari, a mother-of-five, says the cuts are a \"disaster\"\n\n\"It's a disaster! What will we do with these reduced rations? How will we provide for the little ones?\" said Mervat al-Satari, a displaced Palestinian mother-of-five at a camp in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis after being told of the WFP's news. \"Sometimes we wait for these meals to eat.\"\n\n\"This will affect us a lot. The daily aid was somehow ticking the box but now it will be every two days,\" said Sawsan Bahloul, who is also from al-Mawasi and is a mother of three. She added that the portions given by the community kitchen - usually pasta or lentils with occasional potatoes and aubergines - were already too small to feed her family.\n\nThe Palestine director for the WFP, Shaun Hughes, is clear that the cuts are being made because of finances, and \"not because the needs are coming down, or because we don't have access - we do.\"\n\nNearly all of Gaza's 2.1 million people are displaced, with many living in camps like those in al-Mawasi\n\nAlready, since July, there have been reductions in cash transfers provided to some half a million people, meaning they have less money to buy food in local markets. The number of Gazans given bags of flour and ration boxes by the WFP will now fall from 1.1 million to 600,000 each month.\n\nThe WFP received less than half as much funding for its Palestinian operations in 2026 as in previous years. The agency says it urgently needs $450m (£338m) to maintain \"critical\" operations over the next six months.\n\nDespite a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel that was agreed a year ago, violence has continued, including almost daily Israeli strikes, and humanitarian conditions in Gaza remain dire.\n\nThere has been no reconstruction and little recovery, with Israel tightly controlling the entry of goods through crossings. While food markets are now well stocked, few can afford to buy from them. More than 80% of people in Gaza are unemployed so most of the population relies on aid.\n\nTwo-thirds of the population relies on food aid to survive, according to UN-backed experts\n\nFamilies currently receiving the WFP food handouts complained to the BBC that already these were insufficient and gave them little diversity in their diets.\n\n\"The flour isn't enough and the food boxes aren't enough either,\" said Dalal al-Dahdouh, who is living in the ruins of her home in Gaza City with her family of eight. She fears the new cuts will have \"a major impact\".\n\nThe mother draws a contrast between the current desperate situation and life before the war. \"In the past, thank God, we had our own home and a wonderful life. We had fresh vegetables, proper sanitation facilities and our own land,\" she said. \"Now we live entirely on aid, including WFP vouchers.\"\n\nThere is no cooking gas available in Gaza because the Israeli government considers it a \"dual use\" item that could be used by Hamas for military purposes. Wood is expensive, so many families send their children into the street to find plastic and cardboard to burn as fuel to make bread or heat food.\n\n\"It's still a very concerning humanitarian situation, people living in brutal conditions, most people still without a proper home, living in tents, poor access to water and sanitation and healthcare,\" Hughes of the WFP told the BBC. \"Cuts to food assistance are going to compound that hardship that families have been facing for three years now.\"\n\nFamilies, including Sawsan Bahloul's, are forced to burn plastic and cardboard as fuel for cooking\n\nHumanitarian workers say that despite a modest improvement in Gaza compared to a year ago, acute food insecurity and the risk of famine returning continue to loom over the territory.\n\nIn July, the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) - the world's foremost experts on food security - reported that two-thirds of the population - 1.4 million people - were \"expected to face crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity in July-December 2026\".\n\nFor now, the WFP says it can continue supporting bakeries that provide one-third of Gaza's bread needs and provide nutritional assistance to about 300,000 women and children. It also delivers health food snacks to some 200,000 children.\n\nIn the occupied West Bank, the WFP is continuing to give assistance to some 200,000 Palestinians, having halved the number of recipients in September.\n\nThe agency says food insecurity is rising in the territory mostly due to increased Israeli settler violence and Palestinian displacement.\n\n## Related topics\n\n## More on this story\n\n    \n\n    *   Published 8 October \n\n    \n\n    *   Published 30 September \n\n    \n\n    *   Published 23 September \n\n    \n\n    *   Published 19 August \n\n    \n\n    *   Published 4 August \n\n## The video playlist\n\nWatch our pick of standout clips from across the BBC\n\nPrevious Next\n\n* 0:55 Can you cheat on your partner with a video game character? 00:00:55, play video Can you cheat on your partner with a video game character?\n* 1:40'I became a bodybuilder after turning 40' 00:01:40, play video'I became a bodybuilder after turning 40'\n* 1:11 Limoges town hall fire 'a tragedy', residents say. 00:01:11, play video Limoges town hall fire 'a tragedy', residents say\n* 0:46 Gromit to get a voice after 37 years. 00:00:46, play video Gromit to get a voice after 37 years\n* 0:54 Babydoll singer Jamie Miller says it's been 'the craziest journey' 00:00:54, play video Babydoll singer Jamie Miller says it's been 'the craziest journey'\n* 0:34 Why are pumpkins smaller this Halloween? 00:00:34, play video Why are pumpkins smaller this Halloween?\n* 1:06 How the music on The Traitors manipulates your emotions. 00:01:06, play video How the music on The Traitors manipulates your emotions\n* 0:23 Ashley Walters: 'Being in a young offenders institute shaped my film' 00:00:23, play video Ashley Walters: 'Being in a young offenders institute shaped my film'\n* 0:27 Homes destroyed as wildfires rage in California. 00:00:27, play video Homes destroyed as wildfires rage in California\n* 1:15 What led to the White House press secretary leaving her post? 00:01:15, play video What led to the White House press secretary leaving her post?\n* 1:10 Did Tesla just unveil a flying car? 00:01:10, play video Did Tesla just unveil a flying car?\n* 0:44 Could the UK be about to stop changing the clocks? 00:00:44, play video Could the UK be about to stop changing the clocks?\n* 0:57 Street Fighter's Chun-Li ate 12 eggs a day to prepare. 00:00:57, play video Street Fighter's Chun-Li ate 12 eggs a day to prepare\n* 1:26 The fight to say 'vagina' on social media. 00:01:26, play video The fight to say 'vagina' on social media\n* 1:12'Pervert glasses' stigma threatens my independence. 00:01:12, play video'Pervert glasses' stigma threatens my independence\n* 2:01‘It didn’t all go to plan’: Band breaks gig world record. 00:02:01, play video‘It didn’t all go to plan’: Band breaks gig world record\n\n    \n\n    \n\n    *   6479 viewing 6.5k viewing \n\n    \n\n## More to explore\n\n## Elsewhere on the BBC\n\n## Most read\n\n1. 1Companies exploiting welfare system by using residents as 'cash cows', BBC finds\n2. 2Home sellers cut asking prices on 3,000 properties a day\n3. 3'Neets crisis is moral failure' and 'Credit crunch'\n4. 4Inside the shadowy world of anti-Putin sabotage from within Russia\n5. 5Cindy Crawford 'beyond heartbroken' after death of son Presley at 27\n6. 6France's government under pressure after weekend of widespread violence\n7. 7Don't fall for this - how to protect yourself from AI scams\n8. 8The portraits that helped bring the lost Aberfan children home\n9. 9NHS bosses say smaller maternity units may have to close\n10. 10'Postcode lottery' driving children's inequality in England, commissioner warns\n\n## BBC News Services","source_name":"BBC News","source_url":"https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm79plrvpl4vo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss","url":"https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm79plrvpl4vo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss","author":"Unknown Author","author_name":"Unknown Author","published_at":"2026-10-19T06:00:18.000Z","publication_date":"2026-10-19T06:00:18.000Z","image_url":"https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/3840/cpsprodpb/7211/live/e4a10140-cb38-11f1-9a39-31b474234113.jpg","category":"world","topic":"world","tags":[],"political_bias":null,"bias_score":null,"confidence_score":null,"credibility_score":null,"factual_quality":null,"reading_time":8,"word_count":1472,"view_count":0,"breaking":false,"breaking_news":false,"ai_analysis":null,"fact_check_status":"unverified","archive_status":"hot","language":null}}