Food aid cutback in the occupied West Bank as health fears grow in Gaza

Lack of funding has forced the World Food Programme (WFP) to slash aid to families in the West Bank by half even though needs have more than doubled over the past two years.“We’re running out of funding, and that means that from today, some 200,000 people will lose access to critical assistance,” Shaun Hughes, WFP country director for Palestine, told journalists in Geneva on Tuesday.He said intensified settler violence and escalating Israeli military operations alongside severe movement restrictions, demolitions and widespread displacement “have eroded Palestinian livelihoods and contributed to increased food insecurity”.Pushed to the brinkAt the same time, a crippling economic crisis “is pushing people to breaking point”, with unemployment more than doubling and over a third of the population struggling to meet their basic needs.“Food may be available in the markets, but people simply cannot afford it,” he said, speaking from London.Today, nearly a million people across the West Bank – over a quarter of the population – are now food insecure, he said, adding that “two years ago, that figure was 11 per cent.”Families ‘in a chokehold’During recent visits to the territory, Mr. Hughes...