The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has been forced to cut its monthly food aid to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip , where some two-thirds of the population are struggling to get food, the agency said on Monday.
The WFP said it was reducing the number of people receiving aid from 1.6 million to 1.1 million, leaving some 500,000 people without support.
The UN program is facing severe funding shortages. "WFP no longer has sufficient funding to sustain this level of support," the organization said.
What UN aid is being cut in Gaza?
Beyond the cutting of aid to some half a million recipients in the region, the WFP is also:
- Reducing rations by half
- Cash assistance has been cut for some 75,000 families
- Hot meals for those unable to cook have been reduced from 250,000 to 150,000
Some 1.4 million people in Gaza are facing crisis levels of food insecurity according to the WFP, with 200,000 living in emergency conditions.
Despite a US-brokered ceasefire that came into effect last year, Israeli strikes have continued and aid has remained restricted, with little progress toward a final end to the conflict.
"It's a year into the agreement of this ceasefire. Well, life is still brutal here. There is no proper shelter. There is no basic services. There is no safety, no security," acting Executive Director of the World Food Program WFP Carl Skau told Reuters in Gaza.
"These cuts are happening just as we are facing the fourth winter. You know, I've been through the winters here, absolutely brutal," he added.
Gaza's children bear lasting scars three years into war
Why is aid being cut to Gaza?
The UN program urgently needs $450 million (€400 million) to keep funding its critical operations in Gaza and the West Bank over the next six months.
"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," Skau said.
The WFP had already announced cuts to aid for the West Bank in early September, citing funding shortages and donor fatigue.
The Israeli authority responsible for the Palestinian territories, COGAT, says the supply of aid deliveries into the strip exceeds the demand for food and it claims there is no acute food insecurity in Gaza.
Edited by: Karl Sexton
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