Gaza has been run by the Islamist Hamas group since 2007.
Gaza:
The World Food Program (WFP) will suspend food aid to more than 200,000 Palestinians from next month because of a “severe” shortfall of funds, the Palestinian territories group’s senior official said on Sunday.
“In view of the severe shortfall of funds, WFP is forced to make painful choices to stretch limited resources,” Samir Abdeljaber, WFP’s country director, told Reuters by phone from Jerusalem.
“WFP will have to begin suspending aid to more than 200,000 people from June, which is 60 percent of the current case load.”
The most affected families are in Gaza, where food insecurity and poverty are highest, and in the West Bank.
The UN agency provides both monthly vouchers and food baskets worth $10.30 per person to poor Palestinians. Both programs will be affected.
Gaza, which has been run by the Islamist Hamas group since 2007, is home to 2.3 million people, according to Palestinian and UN records, 45 percent of whom are unemployed and 80 percent dependent on international aid.
“WFP understands the implications of this inevitable and drastic decision on the hundreds of thousands of people who depend on food aid for even their most basic needs,” Abdeljaber said.
Citing security concerns with the enclave’s Hamas rulers, Israel, along with Egypt, has led a blockade that has banned the movement of people and goods for years.
Abdeljaber said the UN agency would continue its aid to 140,000 people in Gaza and the West Bank, adding that the decision to suspend was taken to protect those at highest risk of not being able to afford their own food. Are.
He added that unless the funds are received, WFP will be forced to completely suspend food and cash aid until August.
Dozens of Palestinians protested outside the WFP offices in Gaza City to protest the decision, chanting “No to Hunger”.
Faraj al-Masri, a father of two whose family receives vouchers worth $41.20 a month, said, “Vouchers are life, the message they send us is equivalent to death because there is no other source of income.”
In Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip, Jamalat el-Dabor, whose family receives vouchers worth $164.80 per month, said they would “starve” because her husband was ill and unemployed.
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