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“We are running out of funding, and that means from today, around 200,000 people will lose access to vital assistance,” Shaun Hughes, WFP state director for Palestine, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.
He said escalating settler violence and escalating Israeli military operations alongside strict movement restrictions, demolitions and widespread displacement “have occurred eroding Palestinian livelihoods and contributing to increased food insecurity”.
Pushed to the brink
At the same time, a crippling economic crisis “pushed society to breaking point,” with unemployment doubling and more than a third of the population struggling to meet their basic needs.
“Food might be available at the market, but people can’t afford it” he said, speaking from London.
Today, nearly one million people in the West Bank – more than a quarter of the population – are food insecure, he said, adding that “two years ago, the figure was 11 percent.”
Family ‘in a state of suffocation’
During a recent visit to the region, Hughes saw families who once earned their living from the land “now forced from their homes, their livelihoods destroyed” and facing incredible injustice and hardship.
“They are now in a suffocating situation, unable to move freely to access land or work and therefore unable to buy food for their families,” he said.
Responding to journalists’ questions, he said that the West Bank is not traditionally considered to be experiencing a food crisis, but that it is increased pressure exacerbates food insecurity.
He added that the miniscule cash assistance the WFP provides – about 50 shekels per person per month (less than $20) – had been a “lifeline” for many people and would now be cut off due to lack of funds.
Gaza: Don’t look away
Turning to the Gaza Strip, Hughes said that WFP was also forced to reduce cash assistance to 75,000 families in July.
He emphasized that recent slight improvements in food security indicators reported last month “must not create a false sense of security” because two-thirds of the population is still facing hunger at critical and emergency levels.
He warned that if humanitarian food aid was not continued, “up to 90 percent of the population will face high levels of acute food insecurity by the end of this year.”
WFP needs $386 million to avoid further reductions in aid provided in Gaza and the West Bank over the next six months, it said, while urging continued international support and solidarity.
“As the global crisis deepens and domestic fiscal interests take over, there is a real danger that the world’s attention is shifting away from Palestine, but the needs of the Palestinian people, both in the West Bank and in Gaza, have not shifted,” he said.
“Now is not the time to look away.”
An impending health crisis
From within the Gaza Strip, the World Health Organization (WHORepresentatives ) in the Occupied Palestinian Territories voiced concern regarding the security situation as airstrikes continued despite a ceasefire established last October.
Dr. Renee van de Werdt was in Gaza City on Monday, where a nearby attack killed several people.
This was his sixth visit to the Gaza Strip, and he painted a grim picture of “endless piles of rubble” and “overcrowded” and flimsy tents.
‘Unacceptable’ water situation
He highlighted the dire water situation in the enclave, and noted that trucks are usually used immediately after disasters and crises.
“It is absolutely unacceptable to see in Gaza that, after almost three years, these trucks are still the mainstay of most Gazans,” he said.
Contamination concerns
Dr. van de Werdt expressed concern about the quantity and quality of water reaching the community. He said microbiological contamination had “almost tripled” since January due to very limited testing capacity in the Gaza Strip.
“Laboratory capacity in Gaza is still very, very, very limited,” he said.
“We can only detect and track important microbiological contaminants. We do not have the ability to detect and track other contaminants that may be present in the water and the environment.”
Dr. Van de Weert said that the number of cases of acute watery diarrhea had almost doubled from around 30,000 in March to more than 58,000 in August.
The water and sanitation situation is likely to worsen during the winter months, with wastewater flowing and emitting odors throughout densely populated areas.
Medical advances and challenges
In a positive development, WHO noted that there had been marked improvements in medical and clinical services in Gaza but that this progress had been “neither rapid enough nor balanced”.
He estimates that more than 6,600 people require long-term care after having their limbs amputated, but there are no artificial limbs.”which allows people, including many children, to walk and live with dignity, has entered Gaza since May 2024.”
He said as of July, only 12 percent of people who had lost limbs since October 2023 had received prosthetics.
Dr. Van de Weert stressed the need to protect fragile health advances and prevent disease outbreaks “at all costs.”
“Unfortunately, we know what will happen, but we still have time to prevent a public health disaster in this disasterhe said.
