UN cuts food aid in occupied West Bank and Gaza as funding crisis deepens

The World Food Programme is cutting food assistance in the occupied West Bank and Gaza as international aid agencies struggle with a sharp fall in Western funding.

From this month, the WFP will reduce support in the West Bank from 400,000 people to 200,000. The cuts affect cash payments, vouchers, food, livelihood programmes and nutritional services. The agency estimates that 900,000 people in the West Bank are food insecure.

Shaun Hughes, the WFP’s country director for Palestine, said the agency was “prioritising the most vulnerable while cutting assistance to others despite widespread needs”. In Gaza, the WFP supports 1.5 million people, including one million who receive food assistance each month. Claire Nevill, the agency’s spokesperson for the Palestinian territories, told The Associated Press that cash support had begun to fall for about 75,000 families.

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Prioritising the most vulnerable while cutting assistance to others despite widespread needs.

The value of cash assistance for 375,000 people in Gaza was cut by 40 percent in July. Food insecurity has eased since famine was declared in parts of Gaza last year, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, but conditions remain at crisis levels.

The WFP says it needs an additional $386 million over the next six months to serve about two million food-insecure people across Gaza and the West Bank. “We urge the international community to act immediately and step up support for Palestinians,” Hughes said. The United Nations launched its 2026 aid appeal at half the amount it said it needed, even as humanitarian needs reached record levels. UN data showed that the United States remained the largest donor in 2025, but its share fell from more than one-third of total funding to 15.6 percent after cuts under President Donald Trump.

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We urge the international community to act immediately and step up support for Palestinians.