UN cuts food aid to half a million Gazans over funding shortages
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has said it is being forced to "drastically reduce" aid to Gaza because of funding shortages. <p>The number of people helped by its aid programme is being reduced from 1.6 million to 1.1 million, it said, leaving around half a million people in the Palestinian territory without critical monthly food support as winter approaches.</p><p>Since the ceasefire was announced in October last year, WFP has been providing food parcels, wheat flour, bread, hot meals, school snacks, nutrition support and cash assistance.</p><p>However, it said it has received "less than half as much funding for its Palestine operation in 2026 as in previous years" - and urgently needs $450m (£338m) to continue its critical work in Gaza and the West Bank until March 2027.</p><widget id="6"></widget><p>The UN agency said: "For the past three years, WFP's food assistance has provided a lifeline for up to 90% of families in Gaza.</p><p>"WFP no longer has sufficient funding to sustain this level of support."</p><p>Food rations have been halved, cash assistance cut for 75,000 families, and daily hot meals reduced from 250,000 to 150,000 - meaning some families in hard-to-reach areas are only receiving one every other day.</p><p>The WFP said two-thirds of the population in Gaza are struggling to get enough to eat.</p> <widget id="4"></widget><p>"It's a year into the agreement of this ceasefire. Well, life is still brutal here. There is no proper shelter... no basic services. There is no safety, no security," WFP's acting executive director Carl Skau told Reuters news agency in Gaza.</p><p>"These cuts are happening just as we are facing the fourth winter. You know, I've been through the winters here, absolutely brutal."</p><p>He added: "We tell the world now is not the time to look away. This is the time to step up to sustain this support, to protect the progress that has been made, but also to push for early recovery."</p> <widget id="3"></widget> <widget id="7"></widget><p>The US-backed ceasefire between <strong><a href="https://news.sky.com/topic/israel-5981/1" target="_self">Israel</a></strong> and <strong><a href="https://news.sky.com/topic/hamas-8015/1" target="_self">Hamas</a></strong> remains in place.</p><p>While it has reduced large-scale fighting in Gaza, it has not ended Israeli strikes on the territory and there has been little progress towards a permanent peace.</p>