Safiya Abu Sabha, a displaced Palestinian woman from Gaza City, questions how she will be able to feed her four children if the food aid her family depends on vanishes.
Since the Israeli army killed her husband in an attack and she fled the Shuja'iyya neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City, the 40-year-old has been raising her children alone, struggling to cope with soaring living costs without an income.
Her concerns have deepened following the World Food Programme's (WFP) announcement of cuts to its assistance in Gaza amid funding shortages.
On Monday, the WFP announced a one-third reduction in its food assistance in Gaza due to funding shortages, affecting approximately 500,000 people.
Around 1.1 million vulnerable Palestinians will receive food or cash assistance, down from approximately 1.6 million the previous month, the WFP said in a press statement.
Food rations will be halved, with families receiving one food parcel instead of two, while wheat flour distributions will also be reduced, it added.
The number of hot meals provided daily will fall from 250,000 to 150,000, and cash assistance for 75,000 households will be reduced, it explained. In hard-to-reach areas, including those near the so-called "Yellow Line", hot meals will be distributed every other day instead of daily.
For Safiya, who lives in a worn-out tent at a shelter in western Gaza City, the prospect of receiving less assistance threatens the limited support she relies on to feed her children.
"What scares me most today is that the aid might be cut back even further. I have no income with which to buy food for my children. I don't know how I will manage to feed them if we lose this support," she told The New Arab.
"The aid we receive isn't enough to cover everything my children need, and I can't always provide the most suitable food for them, but at least it helps me ensure they have something to eat. Something is better than nothing," she said.
Although the assistance does not meet all her family's nutritional needs, it helps Safiya put food on the table when buying groceries is beyond her means.
Losing a lifeline
Safiya's concerns are shared by Samir Abu Hasira, who lives with his wife and three children in a tent near Gaza's beach.
The Israeli army destroyed his house during the genocidal war, leaving his family without shelter or a livelihood.
His situation worsened when Israeli forces shot him as he tried to reach food aid trucks during the famine, costing him a leg and leaving him unable to work. He has since become increasingly dependent on humanitarian assistance to feed his wife and three children.
"I used to regularly receive a sack of flour and a carton of canned goods, which helped me provide food for my wife and children," he told TNA.
The supplies helped cover part of the family's needs, but further reductions could leave Samir struggling to compensate for the shortfall. With no income and no alternative means of support, buying food from local markets is difficult.
"The war has turned our lives upside down. I lost my home, and after losing my leg, I lost my ability to work. My family now depends on aid to survive," he said. "I never imagined reaching a point where I couldn't provide food for my own children. What frightens me most is not knowing what tomorrow will bring for them."
His experience highlights the vulnerability of families that have lost their livelihoods, particularly those caring for people whose injuries or disabilities prevent them from working.
For such households, reduced assistance means more than smaller food rations; it threatens their ability to meet basic needs.
Despite the cuts, the WFP intends to continue supporting bakeries that meet around one-third of Gaza's bread requirements, providing food assistance to approximately 300,000 women and children and nutritious snacks to 200,000 schoolchildren.
However, the funding crisis threatens the programme's ability to maintain assistance at a time when many families have few alternatives. For households such as Safiya and Samir's, the prospect of receiving less food aid adds to the uncertainty of living without stable shelter or income.
Hunger, with psychological and social pressures
The WFP estimates that approximately 1.4 million people, or 67 per cent of Gaza's population, face acute food insecurity at crisis levels or worse. Only one in five children has access to a sufficiently diverse diet.
According to the programme, with unemployment exceeding 80 per cent, many families cannot afford fresh produce and protein-rich foods, even when these are available in local markets. Food assistance has served as a lifeline for up to 90 per cent of households in Gaza over the past three years.
Since the ceasefire began in October 2025, the WFP has reached approximately 1.6 million people each month through food parcels, flour, bread, hot meals, nutrition programmes and cash assistance.
However, funding received for its operations in Palestine in 2026 amounted to no more than half of what it had received in previous years. The programme urgently needs US$450 million to sustain its operations in Gaza and the West Bank from October 2026 through March 2027.
Beyond its physical consequences, food insecurity is taking a psychological toll on families, particularly mothers struggling to provide for their children amid displacement, poverty and the loss of their homes.
Mustafa Ayesh, a social expert from Gaza City, told TNA that food shortages affect mental health and family relationships.
"When a mother cannot provide food for her children or fears she will not be able to feed them the next day, she faces intense psychological pressure and a sense of helplessness," Ayesh said.
He added that cuts to aid increase families' anxiety about the future, while children may feel more fearful and insecure as tensions rise at home.
Ayesh warned that continued shortages could force families to eat whatever food they can find, increasing the risk of malnutrition, particularly among children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers.
"For many families, food assistance is a basic safeguard against hunger when they have no income or other support. Any reduction adds to the pressure on people already struggling to survive," he said.
For Safiya, food aid cannot restore her home or bring back her husband, but it helps her feed her children.
For her and Samir, the assistance they receive remains essential despite falling short of their needs. As funding shortages threaten further cuts, both families face growing uncertainty about how they will secure their next meal.