GAZA: The World Food Prog­ramme (WFP) will suspend food aid to over 200,000 Palestinians from next month due to a “severe” shortage of funds, the group’s senior official for the Palestinian territories said on Sunday.

“In light of the severe funding shortages, WFP is forced to make painful choices to stretch the limited resources,” Samer Abdeljaber, the WFP’s country director, said. “WFP would have to start suspending assistance to over 200,000 people, which is 60 per cent of its current case load, from June.” The most impacted families are in Gaza, where food insecurity and poverty are the highest, and in the West Bank.

The United Nations agency offers impoverished Palestinians both monthly vouchers with a value of $10.30 per person and food baskets. Both programmes will be affected.

Gaza, which has been run by the Hamas group since 2007, is home to 2.3 million people, of which 45pc are unemployed and 80pc depend on international aid, according to Palestinian and UN records.

Israeli forces demolish a Palestinian primary school in occupied West Bank

“WFP understands the implications of this unavoidable and hard decision on hundreds of thousands of people who also depend on food assistance for their most basic needs,” said Abdeljaber.

Citing security concerns with the enclave’s Hamas rulers, Israel has led a blockade together with Egypt that has put restrictions on the movement of people and goods for years.

Chanting “No to Hunger” dozens of Palestinians staged a protest outside the WFP offices in Gaza City to protest the decision.

“The voucher is life, the message they sent us equals death since there is no other source of income,” said Faraj Al-Masri, a father of two, whose family gets vouchers worth $41.20 per month.

In Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, Jamalat El-Dabour, whose family receives $164.80 worth of vouchers per month, said they will “starve to death” as her husband was sick and unemployed.

Israel demolishes school

Meanwhile, Israeli forces on Sunday demolished a Palestinian primary school in the occupied West Bank citing safety issues, drawing sharp criticism from the European Union which had funded the project.

Palestinians hurled rocks at Israeli forces who fired tear gas at them, as bulldozers moved in on the site at Jabbet al-Dhib village near Bethlehem.

The EU said it was “appalled” after Israeli forces arrived at dawn at the school site, which a Palestinian Authority official said served 45 students and consisted of five classrooms.

A caravan and classrooms constructed of tin sheeting were cleared out of their contents before the demolition.

COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body overseeing civilian affairs in the occupied territories, imposed in March a two-month deadline to vacate the premises following an order by a Jerusalem court.

The body had determined that the school had been “built illegally” and posed a “safety hazard”.

Ahmed Naser, a Palestinian education ministry official, said the school had replaced another school demolished by Israel in 2019.

Naser noted its remote location, which he said prevents the “displacement and forced eviction” of local Palestinians, charging that Israel “wants to confiscate these lands”.

The EU called on Israel to “halt all demolitions and evictions, which will only increase the suffering of the Palestinian population and further escalate an already tense environment”.

“Demolitions are illegal under international law, and children’s right to education must be respected,” the office of the EU representative to the Palestinian Territories said in a statement.

New settlements

On the other hand, Israel published tenders for over 1,000 new housing units in the occupied West Bank, despite a commitment it made in US-backed talks in February that discussion of new settlement units would be halted.

The expansion of settlements has been among the most contentious issues between Israel and the international community for decades. It has continued despite repeated calls for construction to stop from allies including the US.

Israel’s housing ministry claimed, “All the tenders that were published are in line with the rules and have received the required permissions, including from the defence minister.”

There was no comment from the defence ministry.

Since the meeting in Jordan, attended by US, Egyptian, Jor­danian, Palestinian and Israeli officials, the Israel Land Authority has published on its website separate tenders for 1,248 new housing units in illegal settlements of occupied West Bank.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2023