Half a million fewer people on the monthly list

The World Food Programme says a funding shortfall has forced it to reduce the number of people receiving its monthly food and cash assistance in Gaza from 1.6 million last month to 1.1 million this month.

That is a reduction of about 500,000 people in the programme’s caseload — not a claim that all food aid in Gaza has stopped. The agency says it has also halved food rations for people who remain on its list. The cuts affect WFP support specifically; other aid providers may operate separate programmes.

WFP acting executive director Carl Skau said the agency needs $450 million over the next six months to restore assistance and continue hot meals and food parcels in Gaza and the West Bank. The agency says around 1.4 million people in Gaza are still experiencing acute food insecurity at crisis levels or worse, with roughly 200,000 requiring immediate food aid to avert death from hunger.

A fragile recovery under pressure

Skau said that humanitarian access and aid delivery since the October 2025 ceasefire had helped push back famine, but warned those gains could be reversed if funding continues to fall. WFP said it recorded around 50 attacks a day in Gaza during the week before its announcement, underscoring that access and security remain part of the delivery problem as well as funding.

The West Bank has also faced WFP reductions: the number assisted was cut from 400,000 to 200,000 in September. That is a separate change from the Gaza reduction announced this month.

The figures describe a shrinking agency programme amid continuing need. The immediate test is whether donors provide enough money for WFP to restore its caseload before further cuts deepen food insecurity.