• The World Food Programme (WFP) has run out of food in the Gaza Strip as Israel continues to block the entry of all humanitarian aid into the enclave, home to over two million people.

• On April 25, WFP announced it delivered the last remaining supplies to kitchens preparing hot meals which are expected to be completely gone within days.

• The UN agency warned that it may be forced to end critical assistance to families unless urgent action is taken.

• The kitchens have been the only consistent source of food assistance in Gaza for weeks, representing a critical lifeline even though they reached just half the population with only a quarter of their daily food needs.

• WFP also supported 25 bakeries which all fully closed on March 31 as wheat flour and cooking fuel ran out. Furthermore, food parcels distributed to families — containing two weeks of rations — were exhausted that same week.

• No humanitarian or commercial supplies have entered Gaza for more than seven weeks as all main border points remain closed. 

• UN agencies and senior officials, including Secretary-General António Guterres, have repeatedly appealed for humanitarian access.

• WFP said the closure is the longest that Gaza has faced, and it is exacerbating already fragile markets and food systems. 

• The situation inside the Gaza Strip has once again reached a breaking point. People are running out of ways to cope, and the fragile gains made during the short ceasefire have unravelled.

• Food prices have skyrocketed 1,400 per cent compared to the ceasefire period earlier in the year, while essential food commodities are in short supply.

• This is raising serious concern about malnutrition – especially for young children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, older people, and other vulnerable persons.

What is the role of UN World Food Programme (WFP)?

• The World Food Programme (WFP) is a UN agency saving lives and changing lives, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.

• The WFP’s efforts focus on emergency assistance, relief and rehabilitation, development aid and special operations. Two-thirds of its work is in conflict-affected countries where people are three times more likely to be undernourished than those living in countries without conflict.

• On any given day, WFP has 5,000 trucks, 20 ships and about 80 aircraft on the move, delivering emergency assistance, relief and rehabilitation, development aid and special operations to people affected by conflict, droughts, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, crop failures and other disasters. Two-thirds of our work is in conflict-affected countries, where people are three times more likely to be undernourished than those living in countries without conflict. 

• In 2023, WFP transferred food to over 100 million people. That same year, WFP also disbursed around US$2.8 billion in cash-based transfers to an estimated 51.6 million people – strengthening food and nutrition security and sustaining local economies around the world. 

• The WFP was introduced in 1961 after the 1960 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Conference, when George McGovern, director of the US Food for Peace Programmes, proposed establishing a multilateral food aid programme. 

• The WFP was formally established in 1963 by the FAO and the UN General Assembly on a three-year experimental basis. In 1965, the programme was extended to a continuing basis.

• The headquarters of WFP is situated in Rome.

• The Executive Board is WFP’s supreme governing body. It comprises 36 States Members of the UN or Member Nations of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Board provides intergovernmental support, policy direction and supervision of the activities of WFP.

• It works closely with its two Rome-based sister organisations, the FAO of the United Nations and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. 

• The WFP partners with more than 900 national and international NGOs to provide food assistance and tackle the underlying causes of hunger.

• The funding requirement for 2025 is $16.9 billion to reach 123 million people.

• It is the largest humanitarian organisation implementing school-feeding programmes worldwide and has been doing so for more than 50 years. 

• In 2020, the WFP won the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to combat hunger, contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict. 

• Powered by dedication and professionalism of 23,000 staff worldwide, the WFP has a presence in over 120 countries and territories.

• The operations are entirely funded through the generous voluntary contributions of donor governments, institutions, corporations and individuals. A total 93.5 per cent of all government contributions go directly to supporting life-saving and life-changing operations.

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