UN agency to slash food aid in Gaza, West Bank
Severe funding shortfall leaves food agency with no choice
The World Food Programme (WFP) has announced cuts in food aid affecting about 190,000 poor Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, half of all its recipients there, citing a severe funding shortfall. The UN agency said on Wednesday it would from January 1 suspend food assistance to 27,000 people in the West Bank. In addition, food aid to 165,000 people in the Israeli-occupied territory and in the Gaza Strip would be reduced by 20%. “WFP has been forced, unfortunately, to make drastic cuts to the number of people that we support across Palestine, both in Gaza and the West Bank,” Stephen Kearney, said WFP country director in the Palestinian Territories. He said the agency was making the cutbacks “mainly because the amount of funding that we are receiving is dropping drastically.” “It’s not just WFP, it’s across the whole humanitarian community as donor contributions fall significantly,” Kearney said, blaming the shortfall on cuts by the US, WFP’s biggest contributor, and other countri...
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