Attachments
Overview
Key messages
-
Famine looms in the Gaza Strip, where the entire population of 2.2 million people faces alarming levels of acute food insecurity. Four out of every five people have been displaced, trapped in overcrowded areas and barely accessing aid.
-
In response to this escalating crisis, WFP has ramped-up its emergency cash and food assistance, supporting over 1.5 million Palestinians across Gaza and the West Bank in 2023, three times higher than planned.
-
WFP urgently appeals for immediate, unconditional, unrestricted, and safe access to and inside Gaza to reach those isolated and in dire need of life-saving assistance.
WFP emergency assistance, a lifeline for Palestinians
Palestine has endured a protracted cycle of hunger, conflict, and despair for over five decades. In 2023, this cycle reached unprecedented new peaks as tensions escalated in the occupied Gaza Strip and the West Bank on 7 October, resulting in civilian fatalities, widespread destruction, massive displacement, rising food prices and a declining currency.
Now, the entire population of Gaza - 2.2 million people - is in urgent need of food, humanitarian assistance and protection. Among them, 1.7 million individuals have been displaced to make-shift shelters or overcrowded areas with limited access to basic necessities.
Around half a million people are facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity, representing the highest share of a population ever recorded globally. The lack of food coupled with insufficient intake of essential macro and micronutrients is especially concerning for vulnerable groups such as children, elderly, pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls.
However, the humanitarian response thus far has been insufficient to avert a looming famine. Several hurdles tied the hands of humanitarian actors to reach enclaved areas. Foremost among them are the staff and assets safety and security concerns, a shortage of crossing points, bureaucratic impediments, fuel scarcity, prolonged power outages, and telecommunication blackouts. As a result, an average of 100 trucks were allowed to enter Gaza by December 2023, compared to a pre-conflict daily average of 500 trucks. As food systems collapse, families grapple with severe food shortages, with a staggering 90 percent of the population enduring entire days without food.
Moreover, the conflict in the Gaza Strip also had ripple effects in the West Bank, resulting in city closures, heightened checkpoint presence, revoked work permits for working in Israel and farmers barred from accessing their agricultural lands. These compounded challenges have negatively impacted livelihoods, the economy, and the food security of thousands of households in the West Bank.
In response to this dire situation, WFP promptly scaled up its life-saving food and cash assistance, reaching 1.5 million food-insecure Palestinians across Gaza and the West Bank by the end of the year, three times higher than planned.
With strong support from its donor partners, WFP disbursed monthly electronic cash vouchers totalling over USD 25 million to nearly 500,000 beneficiaries. This assistance included individuals deprioritized in June in Gaza and the West Bank due to funding shortfalls and around 132,000 new recipients affected by Gaza hostilities.
Eight weeks into the conflict, local shops and markets in Gaza were depleted of essential food supplies due to the suspension of commercial cargo deliveries. Consequently, WFP shifted to blanket in-kind food assistance, reaching over 1 million affected Palestinians. In each round of distribution, displaced people residing in host communities received food parcels covering their immediate food needs for 15 days.
To increase food assistance accessibility, WFP established the AMAL (Assistance through Markets Accessible Locally) Programme which allowed beneficiaries to collect food parcels through WFP’s network of 304 retail shops in Gaza.