The World Food Programme announced a 50% reduction in recipients in September, citing funding shortages. Displaced households say the loss of support has left them struggling to eat.
Displaced Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank have gone months without food assistance, according to Al Jazeera’s October 24, 2026 report. One family said it frequently goes to sleep hungry. The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) confirmed that some households lost support before its September announcement of a 50% reduction in food-aid recipients.
The cuts followed displacement that had already separated families from their homes and livelihoods. An Israeli military operation in January 2025 displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians from refugee camps in the northern West Bank, including residents now sheltering in unfinished housing and a school in Tulkarem.
WFP cited “critical funding constraints” caused by reduced international funding. The agency told Al Jazeera it did not have enough resources to support every family needing assistance.
Fawza Awad, a 75-year-old widow displaced from Tulkarem refugee camp, lives in part of her daughter’s unfinished house with her son, his wife and their child. Her family had received no WFP aid for five months when Al Jazeera reported. Awad said the food assistance they previously received had barely covered two or three people.
Nearby, Rabab Qasim, her husband Talib Abu Sarriya and their three children were living in a 30-square-metre room in a school sheltering more than 1,000 displaced Palestinians. With no income and complete reliance on aid, the family had received none for three months following the WFP cut.
Abu Sarriya told Al Jazeera that the family often could not find bread or a meal and frequently went to sleep hungry. Before displacement, he had owned a small vegetable stall in Tulkarem refugee camp that provided enough for the family to get by.
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At the time of its September announcement, WFP estimated that about 900,000 people in the West Bank faced food insecurity—difficulty getting enough food. That figure describes the scale of need, not the number whose assistance was cut.
WFP and its partners continue to assist 200,000 Palestinians in the West Bank through cash transfers, food vouchers, direct food supplies, livelihood programmes and nutrition services. Its latest quarterly analysis found that one-third of households could not afford a healthy diet.
WFP said losing assistance did not mean a household was ineligible: the cuts reflected a broad decision rather than the outcome of each recipient’s individual assessment. The agency said support could be restored for some recipients. If that happens, it would notify them by text message.
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