The World Food Programme (WFP) is cutting in half the number of Palestinians it can support with food assistance in the West Bank due to funding shortfalls, the UN program announced Tuesday.
Despite now reducing the service, the WFP shared that food needs have doubled since 2023 and an estimated 900,000 people are experiencing food insecurity in the Palestinian territory, and up until now the program has only been able to support 400,000 of those in need.
While not mentioned by the WFP, after Hamas’s October 7 attacks on southern Israel, the Israeli work permits of 140,000 Palestinian was revoked.
WFP’s latest quarterly food security analysis found that 76% of households in the West Bank have experienced a significant decline in income, and the food and fuel prices remain among the highest in the Middle East. These prices, the WFP claimed, have forced many families to sell assets and reduce the number and quality of their meals to survive.
Notably, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate among those aged 15 and above stood at 27.9%, and the average daily wage stands at only NIS 134.3, just over half of Israel’s minimum daily wage of NIS 257.75.
One-third of West Bank Palestinian families cannot afford nutritious diet
The WFP’s analysis also noted that around 12% of Palestinians in the West Bank have poor food consumption and around a third of families cannot afford a nutritious diet, especially those living in rural areas and in the southern West Bank.
“Families who were once thriving and earning a living from their land are now unable to afford enough food,” said Shaun Hughes, WFP Country Director for the Palestinian territories. “At a time when WFP should be scaling up assistance to reach more people, we are being forced to make difficult decisions, prioritizing the most vulnerable while cutting assistance to others despite widespread needs. We urge the international community to act immediately and step up support for Palestinians.”
Operations in Gaza are also being affected by the funding shortfall. In July, the WFP reduced by 40% the cash value of its assistance for 375,000 people.