WFP funding shortage to leave 500,000 Palestinians without food aid in Gaza — Pajhwok

KABUL (Pajhwok): The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is cutting food assistance in Gaza due to a funding shortage, leaving around 500,000 Palestinians without monthly food aid. According to Reuters, the WFP is reducing the number of people receiving monthly assistance from 1.6 million to 1.1 million. The agency has also halved food rations, cut cash assistance to 75,000 families and reduced the number of hot meals distributed daily from 250,000 to 150,000, the report said. Some families in remote and hard-to-reach areas are now receiving hot meals only every other day. The WFP said around 1.4 million people, or two-thirds of Gaza’s population, were facing crisis-level food insecurity or worse, including about 200,000 people in emergency conditions. WFP Acting Executive Director Carl Skau told Reuters in Gaza that life remained extremely difficult in the territory a year after the ceasefire agreement, with people lacking adequate shelter, basic services and security. He said the cuts were coming as Gaza approached its fourth winter, when living conditions become particularly harsh. The WFP said it urgently needed $450 million over the next six months to maintain its critical operations in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Skau urged the international community not to turn away from Gaza’s population, calling for continued support to sustain humanitarian assistance, protect the progress made so…