Restore food aid to starving Palestinians

It's tragic enough that Palestinians suffer from never-ending conflict, but now they are losing food rations too.

The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) is running out of funds for its relief mission in Palestine. The WFP says it will have to cut food rations in June for over 200,000 people. Surely the international community can do better and prevent this food shortage from occurring. Donations to WFP Palestine need to increase quickly.

The WFP requires $51 million in Palestine for the rest of this year. This amount is a tiny fraction of the cost of military spending.

The WFP depends on voluntary funding from governments and the public for its relief missions. As one of the most impoverished areas of the Middle East, Palestine depends on this WFP food aid. But now they are seeing precious food aid disappear because of lack of funding to keep up with the emergency.

Samer Abdeljaber, WFP representative and country director in Palestine says, “These are difficult choices, but we have already exhausted all options to stretch the funding that we have. We are grateful for the constant support that we received from donors over the years, but needs are growing, and resources are not meeting these needs.”

It will get even worse too. By August all WFP food aid to Palestine, including the West Bank and Gaza territories, will end without increased funding.

WFP food aid programs allow impoverished families to purchase food at local stores through electronic vouchers. If this food aid is cut it harms poor families as well as stores who were benefiting from the food purchases. Food aid from WFP is sustaining Palestinian families and giving the local economy valuable help by supporting stores and agriculture.

WFP food is a lifeline of hope for Palestine. We can't take that away.

Food prices have skyrocketed recently because of global inflation and the war in Ukraine. It's harmed Palestine severely.

"This past year has been a nightmare for thousands of poorer Palestinian families who have been pushed to their absolute limit," said Abdeljaber. “The average cost of a family’s food needs increased by 20 percent. For Palestinians with low purchasing power, every percentage point increase in prices leaves them unable to meet the most basic food needs.”

Food aid is needed more than ever in Palestine for the poor who have suffered because of poverty and conflict in the region.

In Gaza the unemployment rate is at nearly 50 percent. Two out of every three people don't know where their next meal is coming from. They depend on WFP food assistance.

There must be immediate funding for WFP food aid in Palestine to restore food rations and prevent any further cuts.

William Lambers is the author of The Road to Peace and partnered with the U.N. World Food Program on the book Ending World Hunger. His writings have been published by NY Times, History News Network, Chicago Tribune and Cleveland Plain Dealer.