Geneva. The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday that funding shortages are forcing it to halve food assistance in the occupied West Bank, as escalating settler violence and Israeli military operations drive humanitarian needs higher.
The UN agency has been providing food, vouchers and cash assistance to 400,000 people in the West Bank, mostly in rural areas and the south, including communities around Hebron. However, assistance will be reduced to 200,000 people from this month, it said in a statement.
“Severe movement restrictions, demolitions and widespread displacement in the West Bank have eroded Palestinian livelihoods and contributed to increased food insecurity,” WFP country director for Palestine Shaun Hughes told a Geneva press briefing.
“Right now, we should be scaling up our assistance in the West Bank, not cutting these vital lifelines.”
The Israeli military agency responsible for coordinating aid in the West Bank, COGAT, referred a Reuters request for comment to the Israeli military, which did not immediately respond.
Foreign aid contributions from major Western donors, including the United States, have fallen sharply since last year as governments prioritise domestic spending and defence.
Violence and land and water seizures by militant Jewish settlers in the West Bank have increased during the nearly three years since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel.
UN bodies and most countries consider Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank illegal under international law. Israel rejects this position, describing the territory as disputed rather than occupied.
Hughes said humanitarian agencies previously did not consider the West Bank a food crisis but rather a human rights crisis. He said mounting pressures were now changing that assessment.
“They now find themselves in a chokehold, unable to move freely to access land or jobs, and so unable to afford food for their families. They face incredible injustice and hardship,” he said.
Other international aid agencies, including the UN Palestinian refugee agency, also provide assistance to Palestinians in the West Bank, although it was not immediately clear whether they would be able to step in. The agency is also facing major financial constraints.
WFP said funding shortages were also affecting its operations in Gaza, where it supports 1.5 million people.
“Further cuts will be unavoidable unless additional funding is secured,” it said.
