Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoGAZA / WFP AID DISTRIBUTION
STORY: GAZA / WFP AID DISTRIBUTION
TRT: 06:44
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ARABIC / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 08 APRIL 2026, GAZA CITY
1. Various shots, World Food Programme (WFP) food aid distribution warehouse in Al-Shati Palestinian refugee camp, west of Gaza City
2. Various shots, Palestinians gathered outside a food aid distribution warehouse in Al-Shati Palestinian refugee camp, west of Gaza City
3. Various shots, food aid being distributed to residents inside one of the World Food Programme’s distribution centers
4. Various shots, Abdel Moati Abu Sultan as he receives food assistance from the World Food Programme
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdel Moati Abu Sultan, resident of Gaza City:
“Up until now, my family and I are still unable to provide vegetables, meat, fish, or fruit. I work as a fisherman at sea, and yet I cannot afford to buy fish for my home. We are unable to secure vegetables. We have lived through severe hardship, and it is still ongoing. But the World Food Programme has provided us with something acceptable, and we are able to cover our needs to some extent. However, the situation in Gaza in general remains difficult.”
6. Various shots, inside one of the food aid distribution centers, showing food parcels and flour being distributed to residents
7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Iyad Mahdi, resident of Al-Shati Palestinian refugee camp, west of Gaza City:
“As for meat, vegetables, and fruit, these are things we do not see at all, because the situation here is catastrophic in every sense of the word. There are no sources of income, and there is no economy in Gaza. We do not see meat. Speaking for myself, from the first day of last Ramadan until today, I have not gone to the market because I simply do not have the money. As for my family, for the past two months we have not seen meat, and we do not know vegetables or fruit.”
8. Various shots, food aid being distributed to residents inside one of the World Food Programme’s distribution centers
9. Various shots, Willy Niyeko, Emergency Coordinator and Head of the World Food Programme Office in Gaza, during his visit to a food aid distribution center
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Willy Niyeko, Emergency Coordinator and Head of the World Food Programme Office in Gaza:
“If I were to use one word for the food security situation in the Gaza Strip, I would say it's fragile. It's precariously fragile. Now, to understand this, you need to look at the evolution of where we are, where we came from and where we're going. Now, before the October 2025 ceasefire, there was hell on earth here. There was not enough, there was no commodities coming in, reaching beneficiaries. And we had just had famine declared in Gaza. Now, after the ceasefire in October 2025, we entered the face of what I would call fragile, but with a positive outlook. Fragile, with a positive outlook, because we saw all the border crossings open. We saw an increase in the number of commercial and humanitarian commodities coming in. We were able to restart the bakeries and be able to provide for the majority of the needs. We actually collectively manage to reverse the famine. But when you fast forward to the 28th of February 2026, when the regional escalation started, I would say we've gone into a phase of fragile with a very negative outlook. From the 28th of February 2026 we saw the border crossings close. As we speak, now one out of three border crossings that's working. We’re seeing a drop in the number of commercial trucks and humanitarian trucks coming into Gaza. We’ve seen a spike in the prices, in Gaza, in the commercial sector. Now, to appreciate this, you need to understand where we're coming from, and what the situation is. In December 2025, the IPC results showed 77 percent of Gaza was acutely food insecure. Out of those 77 percent, we're seeing also unemployment overall in the Gaza Strip at 80 percent. Our own internal surveys of the population we serve as indicated 80 percent of Gaza is using negative coping strategies. What this means is they have to borrow money in order to meet their basic needs. You still have 65 percent of the population living in tents, and up to 23 percent living in buildings that are damaged. So, if you take this into the broader context of limited commodities coming in, no means for people to sustain themselves, we are unfortunately heading toward a very, very, disturbing situation where we could see the gains that we've made be reversed. And all of this is happening to a large degree because of the regional escalation. Now, the regional escalation is not seeing any fighting happening in Gaza. However, like most things, I'm afraid that the Gazans will bear the biggest brunt of this regional escalation when they cannot have enough commodities come in, when they cannot have means to support themselves, when humanitarian organizations are unable to provide the majority of what they actually rely on.”
11. Various shots, World Food Programme teams inside one of the aid distribution warehouses serving residents of the Gaza Strip
12. Various shots, a street in Al-Shati Palestinian refugee camp, west of Gaza City
According to the latest data from the World Food Programme, around 1.6 million people, equivalent to 77 percent of Gaza’s population, continue to face high levels of acute food insecurity, while a large share of the population depends on food assistance to survive.
Abdel Moati Abu Sultan, a fisherman from Gaza City, said the aid he receives eases some of the burden, but does not mean the crisis is over. He explained that his family is still unable to secure vegetables, meat, fish, or fruit, adding that the cruel irony for him is that although he works at sea, he cannot afford to buy fish for his own household. He says the family has endured severe hardship that is still ongoing, and that what the World Food Programme provides is “something acceptable” that helps them cover their basic needs, but that the overall situation in Gaza “remains difficult.”
This reflects what various UN relief agencies describe as a deterioration not only in the quantity of food available, but also in dietary diversity.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), restrictions on supplies, shortages of cooking gas, and a decline in commercial goods have reduced access to fresh food, while the cost of living has remained roughly 30 percent higher than before the escalation in late February, amid continued shortages of essential commodities.
Iyad Mahdi, one of the displaced residents west of Gaza City, said meat, vegetables, and fruit were things they “do not see at all,” and that the absence of income sources and the collapse of the local economy have made even going to the market beyond reach. He added that since the beginning of last Ramadan until now, he has been unable to go to the market because he has no money, and that his family has not seen meat for two months and only rarely has access to vegetables or fruit.
Mahdi’s testimony aligns with broader indicators showing the erosion of purchasing power and livelihoods. The World Food Programme says overall unemployment in the Gaza Strip stands at around 80 percent, while its surveys show that 80 percent of the population is resorting to negative coping strategies, including borrowing money, reducing consumption, or giving up essential food items. Meanwhile, 65 percent of the population is still living in tents, while around 23 percent are residing in damaged buildings, conditions that further increase household vulnerability to any new disruption in food access or income.
Willy Niyeko, Emergency Coordinator and Head of the World Food Programme Office in Gaza, said the best way to describe the food situation in the enclave today was “dangerously fragile.” He explains that before the ceasefire in October 2025, Gaza had been living through what he described as “hell on earth,” with shortages of supplies and major disruptions in the arrival of essential goods and aid. That was followed by a relative easing after the truce, when crossings reopened and the flow of humanitarian and commercial goods increased, allowing bakeries to resume operations, enabling a large share of basic needs to be met, and helping reverse the famine trajectory that had previously been declared.
But Niyeko said that improvement was both fragile and short-lived. Since the regional escalation that began on 28 February 2026, the enclave has entered, in his words, a new phase of fragility “with a very negative outlook,” with crossings either closed or operating at reduced capacity, fewer commercial and humanitarian trucks entering Gaza, and prices rising sharply, developments that threaten to undermine the limited gains made after the truce.
The latest field data supports that assessment. According to the most recent UN humanitarian update issued on 2 April, commercial supplies entering Gaza fell from more than 900 trucks per week in January and February to fewer than 400 trucks per week during March, with weekly volumes by the end of the month remaining at less than half their pre-escalation level. Aid shipments unloaded during March also fell to around 47,300 pallets, compared with approximately 54,500 in February and 58,200 in January.
Despite that decline, distribution operations are still ongoing, albeit at a different pace and level of pressure. According to the United Nations, more than 240,000 households or about 1.1 million people had received take-home food assistance by 29 March as part of the monthly distribution cycle. However, that figure remains below January, when coverage reached around 1.6 million people with full rations. At the same time, 140 field kitchens continue to prepare nearly 1.5 million meals per day, while 30 UN-supported bakeries produce around 130,000 bundles of bread daily. Yet these figures themselves underscore the near-total dependence on relief, rather than any sustainable improvement in the economy or food security.
