In Gaza, the spectre of famine is returning
Ahmed Dremly writes in +972 on 3 November 2026:
Every day, 60-year-old Rida Eliwa sends her orphaned grandchildren out in different directions to look for food. With 36 children to feed, she relies almost entirely on charitable distributions and leftovers from displaced neighbours. Often, all she can offer them is bread and tea.
“We don’t have money to buy the vegetables or white flour that remain in the market,” she told +972 Magazine.
Israeli officials continue to claim that food is abundant in Gaza. But although a limited number of commercial and humanitarian aid trucks have resumed entering the Strip intermittently since the so-called “ceasefire” in October 2025, fresh produce and meat remain scarce and unaffordable for many displaced Palestinians. According to the Palestinian Authority’s Crossings and Borders Authority, the number of commercial trucks entering Gaza in October fell by more than 50 percent compared to September, while the overall number of trucks entering the Strip fell by more than a quarter. And now, a funding shortfall within one of Gaza’s largest suppliers of food aid threatens to deepen the hunger crisis.
Last month, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) announced significant cuts to its assistance in the Strip: Having previously provided support for 1.6 million Palestinians, it is now only able to support 1.1 million. The news has raised fears of a return to famine as food provisions shrink and community kitchens scale back their operations.
The cuts come as winter approaches, threatening to compound the hardships facing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. According to the UN, almost 1 million residents are living in makeshift shelters at medium-to-high risk of flooding, as Israel continues to prevent reconstruction in the enclave.
Meanwhile, the daily production of cooked meals has fallen by 12 percent to approximately 614,000 amid funding constraints, while shortages of fuel, engine oil, and other essential supplies threaten health and water services. For Palestinians with chronic illnesses or food allergies, the scarcity of affordable food poses additional dangers, forcing some to choose between going hungry and eating food that could further jeopardize their health.