The United Nations World Food Programme halved food assistance in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, citing severe funding shortages.
The U.N. World Food Program reduced its assistance reach in the West Bank from 400,000 people down to 200,000, according to agency announcements issued in Rome. In July, the agency reduced the value of cash assistance by 40% for 375,000 people in Gaza, where it supports an estimated 1.5 million individuals, and warned of further reductions unless new funding materializes.
Economic Pressures and Mounting Local Vulnerabilities in the Palestinian Territories
Humanitarian conditions on the ground have deteriorated as economic hardship collides with security restrictions. Shaun Hughes, the WFP country director, noted that families who once earned a living from their land can no longer afford adequate food supplies. Recent agency analyses indicate that 76% of households in the West Bank have experienced a significant drop in income, while one-third cannot afford a nutritious diet.
Claire Nevill, a WFP spokesperson for the Palestinian territories, explained the expanding operational strain during an interview with the Associated Press.
“In Gaza we’ve already had to start reducing the amount of cash that we’re giving to around 75,000 families,” Claire Nevill, WFP spokesperson for the Palestinian territories, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “Now, the same is happening for WFP’s West Bank operation.”
Claire Nevill, WFP spokesperson for the Palestinian territories
Nevill pointed to compounding local pressures, noting that an economic downturn coupled with increasing settler violence and land incursions has cut rural communities off from livestock and agricultural land. Food and fuel prices in the region remain among the highest in the Middle East, leaving rural and southern West Bank populations exceptionally vulnerable. Across Gaza and the West Bank, the agency calculates it urgently needs an additional $386 million over the next six months to support roughly 2 million food-insecure individuals.
Global Funding Shortfalls and Looming Food Crises Worldwide
The funding squeeze in the Palestinian territories mirrors a broader international retreat from humanitarian financing. Agricultural and development economist Chris Barrett of Cornell University observed that international NGOs and response organizations are struggling as major donors slash foreign assistance. According to reporting from Singapore, these shortfalls translate directly into less monitoring and surveillance for early warning signs of impending shortages.
Photo: CNBC
Phil Hogan, a former European Union agriculture and trade commissioner currently running to lead the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, argued that other member nations must step forward as Washington scales back foreign aid and dismantles the U.S. Agency for International Development. Hogan cautioned that geopolitical conflicts, including Middle East hostilities affecting the Strait of Hormuz and the prolonged war in Ukraine, threaten global agrifood stability.
It is important to continue to support [the agency] financially …
Phil Hogan, former European Union commissioner
Hogan warned that overlapping crises, combined with forecasts for a powerful El Niño weather pattern, are contributing toward potential food disasters in 2027. Food security analyst Chris Newton of the International Crisis Group summarized the organizational outlook, telling analysts that the international community is heading into major food shocks with diminished capacity to foresee or respond.
Operational Overhauls and the Road Ahead for Global Aid
With more than a quarter of the global population experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity in 2025, and over 266 million people facing acute hunger, the immediate question remains whether international donors will adjust their commitments before regional shortages escalate into wider famines.
