Providing food assistance to conflict-affected people in Gaza

Regular food distributions to 1.1 million continue alongside targeted assistance to vulnerable groups

While the precise scope of current food insecurity in the Gaza Strip is unknown, the Multi-Cluster/Sector Initial Rapid Assessment (MIRA) carried out during the last week of the July-August hostilities suggested that it has increased significantly. Potential factors include the high level of displacement, inability to access livelihoods, and the loss of productive assets. This has been compounded during the hostilities by sharp increases in food prices, particularly fresh vegetables, due to restricted access to farming land. Prior to the crisis, 57 per cent of Gaza households faced food insecurity and another 15 per cent were defined as vulnerable to food insecurity.

In this context, UNRWA’s regular food assistance to 830,000 refugees, and WFP’s assistance to 285,000 non-refugees, continued during the hostilities and in their aftermath, alongside additional interventions targeting some of the most vulnerable groups, including internally displaced people (IDPs).

At the height of the conflict, WFP and UNRWA assisted more than 300,000 IDPs in UNRWA schools with a daily supply of ready-to-eat food such as tuna or meat, chickpeas, milk, cheese, cakes, and fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. To relieve the pressure on Gaza bakeries - following the reduced ability of people to bake bread at home due to prolonged electricity cuts - food distributions also included fresh bread, some of which was purchased from the West Bank. Some 57,000 IDPs who remain in 18 UNRWA schools functioning as collective centres have continued to receive ready-to-eat food and fresh bread up to the present time.

A further 84,000 people who found shelter with host families received electronic WFPUNICEF vouchers to enable them to buy food, water and sanitation products in local shops. Following the ceasefire on 26 August, WFP, together with Oxfam GB, started to progressively scale up the emergency voucher programme to include other vulnerable families affected by the conflict, for example those who lost their livelihoods or who have not benefited from any other support. During September, more than 300,000 people were receiving these vouchers and voucher assistance for people in need will continue.

During the conflict, WFP and UNRWA provided one-time exceptional food parcels to more than 140,000 families who were not already in receipt of food assistance. The parcels consisted of 10kg of rice and 30kg of four and provided approximately 44 per cent of an average family’s calorifc needs for a month.

During September, WFP and UNICEF launched a new one-of initiative of vouchers of an approximate value of US$150 per family to buy school uniforms and shoes, along with food, water and sanitation products. An additional partnership involving WFP and HelpAge International will support the specific needs of 1,400 elderly people in the form of electronic food vouchers during September and October.

WFP urgently needs funds to cover the core food safety net in Gaza, which serves the poorest of the poor and will play a critical role in rebuilding food security by supporting the neediest people with food. With families in Gaza spending 50 per cent of their income on food, this safety net is critical to enable families to return to some degree of normality. Altogether, WFP urgently needs US$44 million to provide relief and recovery assistance to conflict-affected and food insecure people in Gaza from October 2014 to June 2015.

* This section was contributed by UNRWA and the World Food Programme (WFP)