The UN World Food Programme has said funding shortages are forcing major cuts to its aid programme in Gaza, leaving about 500,000 people without monthly food support in a territory where two-thirds of the population struggle to get enough to eat, Reuters reported on Monday. The WFP said it was reducing the number of recipients of its monthly assistance to 1.1 million people from 1.6 million. Food rations have been halved, cash assistance has been cut for 75,000 families — Particle News reported cash transfers falling from 1,250 to 750 shekels a month — and the number of daily hot meals for those unable to cook has fallen to 150,000 from 250,000, with some families in hard-to-reach areas now receiving a hot meal only every other day.

The agency said about 1.4 million people, or two-thirds of Gaza's population, face crisis levels of food insecurity or worse under the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, including roughly 200,000 people in emergency conditions, and that more than 80 percent of people in Gaza are unemployed. The WFP said it urgently needs $450 million over the next six months to maintain critical operations in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank — yaani 45 crore dollars (1 billion = 100 crore, so $450 million = 45 crore dollars) — and that its Palestine operation has received less than half of its usual funding in 2026. The cuts follow an earlier halving of recipients in the West Bank in September and a July cut in the value of cash transfers.

"As of this month, we're now cutting half a million people from the number of people that we're assisting," WFP Palestine director Shaun Hughes told AFP, stressing the cuts were driven by financial constraints, not by reduced need or lack of access. "People are not safe. Airstrikes continue daily. People are continuing to be displaced," Hughes said. Acting WFP Executive Director Carl Skau, speaking to Reuters in Gaza, said: "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," adding that the cuts were landing just as Gaza faces a fourth winter. Last year's US-brokered ceasefire calls for the eventual reconstruction of the territory, but Reuters reported little progress has been made towards implementing a wider deal that includes terms for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its troops.

Sources: Reuters, 'World Food Programme cuts aid to 500,000 Palestinians in Gaza, cites funding shortages', 19 October 2026; AFP via France 24 and The Hindu, 'World Food Programme to end aid for half a million in Gaza due to funding shortfall', 19 October 2026; Particle News, 'WFP Cuts Food Aid to 500,000 People in Gaza After Major Funding Shortfall', 19–20 October 2026.