World

WFP Halts Food Aid for 500,000 Gaza Residents

Stateline MEDIA Newsroom•October 19, 2026•3 min read

The UN WFP has cut monthly food aid to roughly 500,000 Gazans amid a funding shortfall, reducing monthly recipients from 1.6 million down to 1.1 million.

Key Facts

Program Pangan Dunia PBB (WFP) menghentikan penyaluran bantuan pangan bulanan bagi sekitar 500 ribu warga Gaza akibat krisis pendanaan; total penerima turun dari 1,6 juta menjadi 1,1 juta jiwa per bulan.
Direktur WFP untuk Palestina, Shaun Hughes, mengumumkan keputusan itu kepada kantor berita AFP di Yerusalem Timur, Senin (19/10/2026), dan menegaskan pemotongan bukan karena kendala akses melainkan karena dana operasional habis.
Ransum ikut dipangkas: tiap keluarga kini hanya menerima satu bingkisan sembako (sebelumnya dua), kuota tepung terigu dikurangi, dan bantuan tunai bagi 75.000 rumah tangga turun dari 1.250 shekel menjadi 750 shekel per bulan (sekitar US$240 dari semula US$400).
Kajian terbaru Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) menyebut sekitar 1,4 juta jiwa atau dua pertiga populasi Gaza masih menghadapi kerawanan pangan akut.
WFP membutuhkan US$450 juta untuk mendanai operasi enam bulan di Gaza dan Tepi Barat; sepanjang 2026 lembaga itu baru mengumpulkan sekitar separuh dari pagu dana normal untuk wilayah Palestina.
Pemangkasan sudah dimulai September lalu di Tepi Barat, di mana jumlah penerima dipotong separuh dari 400 ribu menjadi 200 ribu jiwa.

Cuts Take Effect in October

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has halted the distribution of monthly food assistance to around 500,000 residents in the Gaza Strip. The difficult decision was announced on Monday (19/10/2026) amid a funding crisis that can no longer be addressed through standard austerity measures.

With these cuts, the number of monthly WFP aid recipients in Gaza drops from 1.6 million to 1.1 million people. WFP Country Director for Palestine, Shaun Hughes, shared the details with the AFP news agency in East Jerusalem. He described ground conditions that remain far from safe: airstrikes persist and nearly the entire population still lacks permanent shelter.

A Matter of Funding, Not Access

Hughes emphasized that the cuts were not caused by humanitarian access constraints, but rather by dried-up operational funding. Family rations have also been slashed: one parcel of sembako (basic foodstuffs) per family (down from two), reduced flour quotas, and monthly cash assistance for 75,000 households cut from 1,250 shekels to 750 shekels, or around US$240 down from US$400.

WFP needs US$450 million to fund six months of operations across Gaza and the West Bank, yet throughout 2026 it has raised only about half of the standard budget cap for the Palestinian territories. Cutbacks had already begun this past September in the West Bank, where recipient numbers were slashed by half from 400,000 to 200,000 people.

Two-Thirds of Gazans Face Food Insecurity

The latest assessment by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) shows that roughly 1.4 million people, or two-thirds of Gaza's population, continue to experience acute food insecurity and remain heavily reliant on international aid.

In August 2025, the IPC briefly declared a famine disaster status in Gaza; that status was lifted in December 2025 following a ceasefire brokered by the United States. Once the truce took effect, WFP managed to reach 1.5 million to 1.8 million residents per monthΓÇöcapacity that has now been severely rolled back. Observers pointed to the broader funding climate: following Donald Trump's return to the US presidency, Washington slashed contributions to UN agencies, deepening the budget deficit that has now forced WFP to curtail its aid.