Gaza is facing a new food crisis

World Food Program has to make cuts Bread is becoming scarce again in Gaza As of: October 25, 2026 • 3:31 p.m

The situation in the Gaza Strip is threatening to get worse again - because the World Food Program has to massively cut its food deliveries. The reason: International donors pay in significantly less.

At a food distribution point in the Gaza Strip, men, women and children push, jostle and fight each other for a warm meal. Many of them are starving and aggressive. A man's blood flows from a wound on his head. He holds up an empty pot.

Aid organizations warn that the food situation in the Gaza Strip could worsen dramatically within days. Umm Tareq Abu Amsha, for example, rations the few supplies she has. She bakes some bread in a small oven in a badly damaged building at the former Islamic university in Gaza. She's missing everything at the moment, she says.

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Traders complain that hardly any basic foodstuffs have arrived in commercial deliveries to Gaza for more than ten days. The reason: a dispute over fees that the terrorist organization Hamas had charged traders. After a delivery stop, the supply of basic foods is now getting back on track too slowly, says trader Munir Al-Rayyes.

An association of bakeries in the coastal strip has warned that ten out of 17 commercial bakeries have already had to close because flour stocks have been used up. Now bread is also becoming scarce. Another 21 bakeries are still in operation and are supplied by the United Nations World Food Program. But that also had to drastically reduce its deliveries.

Carl Skau is the head of the United Nations World Food Program. He visited the Gaza Strip and warns: "So far we have reached almost 1.8 million people every month. In the future there will be 500,000 fewer people every month. This will have massive consequences. People have no job, no other source of income and no alternative way to get food. They will eat less. Two thirds of the population already suffer from acute food insecurity. The cuts will further aggravate the situation."

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The World Food Program has to cut back deliveries due to lack of funds. International donors are not providing enough resources to meet growing humanitarian needs. Smaller food rations and longer intervals between aid deliveries could make the situation worse. In the future, families would only receive one instead of two food packages and a smaller bag of wheat flour, the UN organization said. In addition, many displaced people in Gaza live in makeshift tents. Winter is approaching, and for many there is a lack of protection from cold and rain.

"Winter is approaching, our tents are worn out, we need new ones. Nevertheless, we hold on to hope for the future. We want a life in dignity," says Haneen Abu Saida. Tents from aid organizations are designed to last for six months. The winter in particular is hard on the material, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council, which, among other things, brings tents to Gaza.

Umm Tareq Abu Amsha burns cardboard in the ruins of the Islamic university to keep the oven's fire going. For them, daily bread has become a question of survival. Your children often have to wait until late afternoon for their second meal. Sometimes there is only one meal, she says. The children got used to eating less.

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This topic in the program: tagesschau.de | Gaza is threatened with a new food crisis: bread is becoming scarce | Oct 25, 2026 | 2:39 p.m