The United Nations has announced significant cuts to food assistance for Palestinians due to a severe funding shortage. Carl Skau, the acting head of the World Food Program (WFP), disclosed that food aid has been reduced for 500,000 individuals in Gaza and 200,000 in the West Bank. This reduction comes amid financial difficulties that have compelled the WFP to lower the number of beneficiaries from 1.6 million to 1.1 million in Gaza and from 400,000 to 200,000 in the West Bank.
Skau has urgently called on the international community to contribute $450 million so that the agency can restore the suspended aid and provide essential hot meals and food parcels in both Gaza and the West Bank over the next six months. Skau, following his recent visits to these regions, painted a dire picture of life in Gaza, describing it as “absolutely brutal” and fraught with danger, noting that U.N. teams recorded approximately 50 attacks per day over the past week.
Despite these challenges, Skau emphasized some progress made since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October, stating that it has allowed the agency to combat famine effectively. However, an alarming 1.4 million people, or 67% of the population in Gaza, are still experiencing “acute food insecurity at crisis levels or worse.” Among them, around 200,000 individuals require immediate food assistance to avert death from starvation, as reported by the WFP.
Skau highlighted that the WFP will now prioritize food distribution to the most vulnerable groups, including the sick, mothers, and malnourished children, as well as those living nearest to the “yellow line” that separates areas under Israeli control from those inhabited by Palestinians.
Recently, the Israeli military halted the shipment of commercial goods, including food, into Gaza. They announced a resumption of the coordination for the entry of commercial trucks but warned that any merchant reported to be paying taxes to Hamas would risk having their licenses revoked.
In the West Bank, the situation has deteriorated as escalating attacks by Israeli settlers have transformed what was previously a human rights crisis into a full-blown hunger crisis. Food insecurity in the region has more than doubled over the past three years, leaving nearly a million Palestinians in need of food assistance. Skau recounted witnessing the devastation of burned olive fields, camps, and villages during his visit, noting that the number of settler attacks during the initial weeks of harvest has already surpassed the total number of attacks recorded last year.
Skau issued a stark warning, stating, “where hunger spreads, instability follows,” underscoring the critical impact of food scarcity on social stability. He reiterated that the issue of food security is now at a crucial turning point that cannot be overlooked.
