The UN’s World Food Programme said on Monday (October 19, 2026) it would end monthly assistance to 500,000 people in Gaza due to a funding shortfall, while warning that needs remained acute.

“As of this month, we’re now cutting half a million people from the number of people that we’re assisting,” Shaun Hughes, the WFP country director, told AFP.

The reductions bring down to 1.1 million people – still roughly half of war-battered Gaza’s population – the number of Palestinians receiving WFP aid either in food or cash assistance.