Gaza _ Palestine News Network
The humanitarian organization has reduced its aid to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip due to a lack of funding, which has caused a suspension of some of them, a World Food Programme (WFP) official said Sunday.
The programme´s director in the Palestinian territories, Stephen Kearney, said the aid had cut off some 27,000 Palestinians in the West Bank since January 1, January.
He also announced that 165 thousand Palestinians, including 110,000 in the Gaza Strip, had shrunk the aid they received by 20 percent.
The decision to reduce aid is due to a "gradual decline" in donor contributions over the last four years, in particular the reduction of the United States contribution, which is the largest contributor to the program.
The organization announced that in 2018 it had provided assistance to 250,000 people in Gaza and 110,000 in the West Bank.
A Palestinian resident of Yatta City, about 12 km from the southern West Bank city of Hebron, said it was codifying its purchases.
The 52-year-old Palestinian mother said the World Food Programme (WFP) did not renew its card in December to buy food for a family of 12, indicating that they were unemployed.
She said that her children were not allowed to enter Israel and sometimes gave permission to her husband to enter the Hebrew state where he could make some money for his work.
According to the Palestinian, the Israeli government requires permission from the Hebrew state, which is selective in granting it.
On 19 December 2018, the World Food Programme (WFP) launched an appeal to donors to meet a shortfall of $57 million, and is currently looking for new donors to cover the shortfall.
The reduction of aid will have repercussions on the Palestinian economy as residents use the program cards to buy basic products from local stores, Kearney said.
In the Gaza Strip, 80 per cent of the population of some 2 million people depend on international assistance.
Since 2008, Israel has imposed a blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Israel has waged three wars in the Gaza Strip since 2008.
The US administration has suspended aid to the Palestinians in excess of $500 million.
