WFP reaches families most at risk with food assistance as post-ceasefire scale-up gathers pace

Here are the latest updates on WFP operations and food security in Gaza:

WFP Operations

• Since the ceasefire began (11 October), WFP has dispatched more than 280 trucks (nearly 3,000 metric tons) into Gaza to support bakeries, nutrition programmes and general food distributions.
• In the early hours of this morning, 57 trucks carrying WFP aid arrived safely in WFP and partners’ warehouses.
• The majority of WFP’s cargo entering Gaza since the ceasefire has already safely reached its intended destinations across Gaza - ensuring that bakeries remain operational, partners are well supplied, and warehouses are being replenished as operations continue to scale up.
• WFP, through the Logistics Cluster, has also facilitated the offloading of 216 trucks at border crossings on behalf of other humanitarian organisations.
• WFP has resumed distributions of food parcels at five sites, supporting almost 8,500 people. The parcels contain various nutritious food items, including rice, lentils, beans, chickpea paste, tomato paste and fortified sunflower oil.
• Depending on levels of access, WFP intends to restore its regular food distribution system, scaling assistance through 145 distribution points across Gaza.
• Since their resumption on 4 October, nine bakeries in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis have produced a daily average of over 100,000 bread bundles (2kg) per day. These are now distributed daily across over 230 sites through WFP partners.
• In October, WFP has reached 23,000 people with nutritional support and treated 1,200 pregnant and breastfeeding women suffering from malnutrition.
• In October, more than 50,000 households have received digital payments, allowing them to buy food and other essential products from the market. The goal is to reach 200,000 (nearly 10 percent of the population) by end of month.
• WFP is also providing nutritional snacks to children in temporary learning centres set up by UNICEF.
• WFP is working to clear and rehabilitate key roads in Gaza ahead of the expected opening of additional border crossings. On 14 October, a team cleared critical roads between Gaza City and Erez and Zikim, to ensure readiness for the opening of the northern crossings.
• WFP witnessed the preparations at Rafah crossing and potential enhanced facilitation from Ashdod, we are hopeful that this would allow additional flow of aid.
• WFP has 170,000 metric tons of food in - or on its way to - the region, in order to scale up food assistance to 1.6 million people over the next three months. Of this, almost 60,000 metric tons is ready to be dispatched immediately into Gaza.

Operational Challenges

• At present, only two crossings into Gaza are operational. This severely limits the quantity of aid that WFP and other agencies can bring in to stabilize the markets and address people’s needs.
• Crossings to the north of Gaza remain closed so very little aid can reach the area.
• Many of the roads in Gaza are blocked, damaged or destroyed, making them unusable for transporting aid.
• The damage to infrastructure has severely impacted warehousing and storage capacity, with more than 50 percent destroyed.
• In general, the quantity of nutritious food aid entering Gaza is still insufficient to address the severe hunger conditions.
• To deliver life-saving food assistance at scale, we need key enablers in place: restoration of law and order, full opening of entry points—including Zikim, Erez, Kerem Shalom, Kissufim - and all the corridors, alongside expanded logistics and telecoms capacity, fuel, and road repair equipment.

Food Security in Gaza

• After 2 years of war, a 2-month blockade and months of insufficient food supply, families in Gaza are still struggling to put food on the table. Countless displacements have exhausted their coping strategies.
• The north of Gaza, theater of a recent large-scale military operation, remains largely cut off from aid due to the closure of Zikim on 12 September.
• As of October 12, more than 300,000 people have reportedly returned to northern Gaza, many of them to homes that are in ruins. Most displaced households remain in the south, often living in tents and without adequate access to food and services.
• Anticipation of food inflows upon the ceasefire drove food prices down. However, liquidity constraints persist, with cash withdrawal fees still between 20-24%.

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

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