Gaza families brace for 'another famine' as UN cuts food aid

The World Food Programme announced that it would reduce food assistance to Gaza by one-third. The agency said the decision resulted from funding shortages. This matters because many families depend on food parcels rather than wages or market purchases to eat each day.

The parcels included beans, white flour, oil and pasta. Their quantities were small, but families said they helped them survive. Ola Shamali sold part of her family’s assistance to buy nutritious foods for her father, who has cancer, high blood pressure and diabetes.

The reduction could leave half a million people without critical aid. Families are already cutting meals, repairing damaged tents and fearing higher prices or renewed restrictions on food entering Gaza. The announcement has revived fears of a severe hunger crisis, a year after famine followed Israel’s siege.

The WFP said funding shortages could leave 500,000 people without access to critical food assistance. That is the immediate scale of the announced aid gap. The risk matters because food parcels are a central source of nourishment for families who cannot reliably buy food.

The article also reports that around 1.8 million people live in displacement sites across Gaza. Many have lost homes and now depend on temporary shelters. Ola Shamali’s family of nine lives in a tent after their home in Al Shujaiya was destroyed in March 2025.

Nearly two-thirds of families in displacement sites live in tents or makeshift shelters, according to Ocha. These shelters deteriorate quickly in harsh weather. Reduced food aid therefore affects people facing both hunger and unsafe living conditions, leaving households with fewer ways to withstand further shortages.

The World Food Programme, or WFP, is a United Nations humanitarian agency that provides food assistance during emergencies. The article shows why this support matters in Gaza: many displaced families have little income, damaged homes and limited ability to buy food. Food aid can therefore become their main dependable source of meals.

WFP parcels mentioned in the article contained beans, white flour, oil and pasta. Ahmed Jelow said the portions were small but helped feed his family. Ola Shamali depended on the parcels for her family of nine and sold some items to buy fruit, vegetables and other foods for her sick father.

Funding shortages have forced WFP to announce a one-third cut. Families now fear fewer meals, weaker diets and renewed starvation. The agency’s assistance is important not only because it supplies calories, but because it gives households something to exchange or combine with other foods.

Reduced food supplies can affect families in three linked ways. Prices rise because scarce goods become harder to obtain. Households then buy less food, choose cheaper items and cut meals. Diets also lose variety, making it harder to obtain enough energy and nutrients.

Ahmed Jelow said a 25-kilogram bag of white flour rose from 70 to 150 shekels. Sugar increased from four to seven shekels per kilogram, and eggs rose from 28 to 55 shekels a tray. During earlier starvation, his family ate soup or lentils once daily.

The key mechanism is reduced purchasing power. Aid cuts remove food directly, while higher prices make replacement harder. Jelow earns as little as 50 shekels on a good day. If assistance falls further and prices continue rising, families may eat fewer meals, rely on thin diets or use unsafe food, as some did previously.

Many Gaza families cannot replace food aid with earnings because displacement, deaths and destroyed homes have severely limited their livelihoods. The article describes families living in tents, relying on charity and struggling to afford even basic market foods. Income is often irregular and far below current prices.

Ahmed Jelow and his brother are the main breadwinners for nine family members. Jelow works as a musician at traditional weddings and may earn only 50 shekels on a good day. A 25-kilogram flour bag now costs 150 shekels, up from 70. That single purchase can exceed several days of income.

Markets may also become harder to use when prices rise or food-entry restrictions return. Ola Shamali had no money to buy vegetables after hearing about the aid cut. Her family’s destroyed home, tent life and dependence on food distributions leave them with almost no buffer when aid declines.

Famine is an extreme food crisis affecting a population, not simply a few empty shelves or missed meals. It involves widespread lack of access to food, severe hunger and malnutrition, and rising deaths linked to hunger or disease. This definition is established humanitarian knowledge; the article refers to Gaza’s earlier famine and fears of another one.

A temporary shortage can be serious but may remain limited in time, place or severity. Famine develops when people cannot obtain enough food for an extended period and have few ways to recover. In the article, families describe eating once daily, surviving on soup or lentils, and using contaminated flour.

The distinction matters because Gaza’s current aid cut could combine with high prices, displacement and restrictions on food entry. Those pressures can push a shortage toward a much wider hunger crisis. The article reports that families fear returning to the “nightmare of starvation” experienced previously.

People obtain food through aid, markets, household income and physical access to supplies. Conflict can destroy homes, disrupt work and make travel dangerous. Border restrictions can limit what enters. Humanitarian funding determines how much aid agencies can deliver. Local markets then reflect whatever food remains and what households can afford.

The article shows these forces working together. WFP’s funding shortage triggered a one-third aid reduction. Families feared renewed restrictions on food entering Gaza, while market prices were already climbing. Jelow’s flour cost 150 shekels, and his daily income could be only 50 shekels. Aid, access and purchasing power therefore weakened at the same time.

This combination can turn scarcity into hunger. Families may cut meals, sell aid to buy other foods or seek flour near dangerous checkpoints. If funding falls further, borders restrict supplies or prices continue rising, households will have fewer ways to secure enough food.