WFP SUSPENDS ASSISTANCE FOR 500,000 PEOPLE IN GAZA

ROME, OCTOBER 19 /SRNA/ – The United Nations World Food Programme /WFP/ has announced that it will suspend monthly assistance to 500,000 people in Gaza due to a lack of funding.

Despite the funding cuts, 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza - around half of the population - will keep receiving food or cash assistance from the UN agency each month, although in reduced quantities and amounts.

The WFP says its efforts had helped mitigate the effects of famine in Gaza last year and warned that conditions had not improved sufficiently to allow aid to be suspended, AFP reported.

According to the UN agency’s latest estimates, 1.4 million people, or two-thirds of Gaza's population, remain food insecure and in need of humanitarian assistance.

Israel, which has imposed a blockade on the territory, disputes the assessment that Gaza experienced famine.

The famine classification was lifted in December, two months after a US-mediated ceasefire was announced in Gaza. Israel has continued to carry out attacks in Gaza since then, targeting anyone who took part in the attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.