World Food Programme plans to suspend aid to over 2 lakh Palestinians

Gaza: The World Food Programme (WFP) is planning to suspend food aid to over 200,00 Palestinians from next month due to a shortage of funds, the group’s senior official for the Palestinian territories confirmed on Sunday.

WFP’s country director, Samer Abdeljaber, told Reuters that the WFP was planning to suspend food assistance to over 200,000 people from the month of June.

However, it was hard to decide while considering impacted families where insecurity and poverty are the highest, and people there thoroughly rely on international aid.

“WFP is compelled to make painful choices to stretch the limited resources in light of the severe funding shortages,” Samer Abdeljaber said.

Food baskets and monthly vouchers with a value of USD 10.30 each are provided to poor Palestinians by the UN agency. There will be an impact on both programs.

According to Palestinian and UN records, 2.3 million people reside in poverty hit Gaza, of which 45 percent are unemployed and 80 percent depend on international aid.

The WFP is the main leading humanitarian organization dedicated to saving and changing lives in violent or utterly poverty-hit country areas it delivers food assistance in emergencies and works with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.