Emergency Food assistance to vulnerable non-refugee Palestinians The outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated the existing deteriorating health and socio-economic conditions of Palestinians, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable groups including elderly people, persons with disabilities, families with high ratio of dependents, pregnant and nursing women, youth and children. Closures and movement restrictions imposed by the national authorities to curb the spread of the pandemic have affected the livelihoods of thousands of Palestinians, particularly workers in the informal market with low wages. The World Bank estimated in May that due to the reduced demand caused by job losses and salary cuts, the Palestinian economy will shrink between 2.6 to 7.6 percent in 2020 compared to 2019, and even further depending on the length of the restrictive measures.  
In Gaza, prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the humanitarian situation was already dire due to 13-year blockade, entrenched internal Palestinian divisions and recurrent escalations of violence which threaten to ignite a wider conflict. With deteriorating public services such as health care, water and sanitation, a shrinking job market and a liquidity crisis, Gazan residents were already trapped in a circle of rising poverty (53%), food security (69.8%) and unemployment (45%). The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) reported that unemployment rate in Gaza has increased to 49 percent during the second quarter of 2020.     
In Gaza’s deteriorated security and humanitarian context, the consistent provision of WFP’s interventions has been pivotal to meeting deepening humanitarian needs, strengthen national emergency preparedness and response capacity, support common efforts to de-escalate tensions, and improve the prospects for peace. In this vein, WFP regularly provides food assistance interventions reaching 258,200 of the poorest and most food insecure non-refugees. The bulk of its assistance (223,200 people) is channeled through electronic food vouchers as the modality has proved to be an efficient catalyst to increase people`s food security status, freedom of choice, purchasing power and stimulate an ailing economy. WFP works with two implementing partners to deliver its electronic food assistance to the poorest and most food insecure non-refugee communities: the INGO Global Communities (100,000) and the Ministry of Social Development (123,200). WFP provides a monthly US$ 10.30 per individual to all targeted food voucher recipients enabling them to purchase food from 198 retailers across the Gaza Strip. WFP`s food support is more critical as the PA`s fiscal crisis and subsequent long delays in the allocation of people`s cash entitlements which has put additional strain on the ability of vulnerable communities to cope with unabated hardships and deprivations. 
Since May, WFP has scaled up its food voucher assistance and provided nearly 800 newly registered non-refugees who have been affected by COVID-19. The spike in the COVID-19 cases since 24 August compounded with curfews and lockdowns have further exacerbated the population`s deteriorating humanitarian and socio-economic conditions. The Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) response plan to counter the impacts of COVID-19 in the Gaza Strip estimates there are 70,000 families in need of food assistance. These new poor families are minimum wage earners who have lost their income. WFP is working with the MoSD on the list of affected non-refugee families and is finalizing necessary cross checking and validation of eligibility of families for WFP food voucher assistance. The proposal focuses on supporting the food needs of new 30,394 non-refugee affected people in the two governorates of Gaza City and North Gaza where the highest number of cases of COVID-19 have been detected. Targeted families will receive an electronic voucher card, or a digital code sent via SMS, credited with a monthly USD 10.30 per capita to purchase any type of food at local shops