WFP cuts Gaza food aid for 500,000 people as Israel lets commercial goods back in

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) will stop monthly food help for about 500,000 people in Gaza because it has run short of money, the agency said on Monday, October 19. On the same day, Israel said it would let commercial goods back into the territory after a halt of about a week — two decisions that will shape how much food reaches Gaza's 2.1 million people as winter approaches.

The WFP cuts in numbers

	Before	After
People receiving monthly aid	1.6 million	1.1 million
Food parcels per family	2	1 (smaller flour bags)
Daily hot meals	250,000	150,000
Hard-to-reach areas near the "yellow line"	A hot meal every day	A hot meal every other day
Funding needed for the next six months	—	$450 million

WFP says it received less than half of its usual funding for its Palestine operation this year. Help will now be focused on the sick, children at risk of malnutrition, and families whose safety is at risk and who are repeatedly forced to move.

'This is not because the needs are going down'

Acting WFP Executive Director Carl Skau, who visited a WFP-funded soup kitchen in Deir al-Balah on October 18, said the cuts were driven purely by funding. "This is only because we have less funding," he said, describing the situation in Gaza as "absolutely brutal". He warned that people are beginning to lose hope and that "many I spoke to feel forgotten by everyone". Almost a million Palestinians now need food assistance, he said.

How bad is hunger in Gaza now?

• About 1.4 million people (67%) face acute food insecurity at crisis level or worse, down from 1.6 million (77%) at the end of 2025 — an improvement WFP calls "modest and fragile".
• More than 80% of people are unemployed and cannot afford fresh or protein-rich food even when it is in markets.
• Only one in five children has a sufficiently varied diet.
• WFP has reached about 1.6 million people a month since the October 2025 ceasefire and supports around 80% of Gaza's bakeries.

UN teams recorded up to 50 airstrikes and other attacks a day in the past week, and Gaza's health officials say about 1,500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire began. Israel says four of its soldiers have been killed by militants in the same period.

Commercial trucks to return

Israel's COGAT agency, which manages civilian affairs for Gaza, said it will gradually resume commercial shipments, giving priority to essential goods before winter. It acted after merchants said Hamas had withdrawn a demand for 10,000 shekels (about $3,225) per truck, though COGAT said it had not independently verified that.

Under the new rules, payments must go only through documented bank transfers, and any merchant found to have paid Hamas will be excluded. Hamas has said the fee was a voluntary contribution from wealthier Gazans to a fund for people in need.

Private traders normally bring in about half of all trucks, and residents said the prices of eggs and flour roughly doubled or tripled during the halt.

The West Bank too

WFP is also cutting back in the occupied West Bank, where it halved the number of people it helps in September from 400,000 to 200,000. Food insecurity there has more than doubled in three years, and settler attacks have surged during the olive harvest.

Why it matters

Fewer food parcels and higher market prices hit the same families at the same time. Aid agencies warn that the gains made since the ceasefire could be reversed quickly in winter, when shelters are flooded and illnesses spread.

What happens next

WFP says the cuts will be reversed if donors close the $450 million gap. The pace at which commercial trucks return over the coming days will decide whether prices in Gaza's markets fall back.