Middle East crisis: What is MSF doing and how can you help?
We are adapting our programs to respond and are closely monitoring the rapidly evolving humanitarian needs.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is alarmed by the dramatic escalation in conflict across the Middle East region, following strikes by US and Israeli forces in Iran and Iran’s subsequent retaliatory actions in several countries.
Lebanon and Iran are among the most-affected countries, with civilians bearing the brunt of the war’s devastating impact. Bombing continues across multiple cities and villages, often hitting densely populated areas, and casualties are mounting. Millions of people have been forced to flee, many of whom have been displaced multiple times.
MSF calls for the protection of civilians, hospitals, health facilities and other essential infrastructure.
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GIVE NOWWhat is the situation in the Middle East and how is MSF working there?
The war has had a devastating impact on civilians across the Middle East and particularly in Lebanon and Iran. Thousands of people have been killed or injured across the region, and millions have been forced from their homes, often multiple times. In Lebanon alone, more than one million people have been displaced, while many households in Iran have also been affected by displacement, destruction, and disruption to essential services. Although ceasefires have brought some relief and allowed MSF to scale up activities, the situation remains extremely fragile.
Basic services and healthcare systems are under severe strain. Attacks and insecurity have forced hospitals and health facilities to close or operate at reduced capacity, leaving people without access to essential care and increasing the risk of preventable deaths.
The psychological toll is immense. Repeated displacement, constant exposure to violence, and the loss of family members, homes, and livelihoods are driving widespread trauma and long-term mental health needs.
MSF operates a wide network of medical and humanitarian activities across the Middle East, providing essential healthcare to vulnerable populations affected by conflict, displacement, and limited access to services. Across the region, our teams deliver a range of services including primary and secondary healthcare, surgical care, maternal and pediatric services, mental health support, treatment for chronic diseases, and water and sanitation interventions. We work through a combination of hospitals, primary healthcare centres, mobile clinics, and partnerships with local health authorities to reach communities in need.
Our teams in both Iran and Lebanon are currently confirmed safe, and we are monitoring developments and assessing how to provide support to the people affected.
We have pre-positioned medical supplies in both countries ready to be distributed.
Lebanon
In Lebanon, people continue to move between shelters and damaged homes, often living in dire conditions. MSF teams are adapting their response and assessing evolving needs across the country.
In southern Lebanon, Israeli attacks, ground incursions, and the occupation of Lebanese territory continue despite the announced ceasefire. MSF has scaled up its presence across the south, where humanitarian needs remain immense, and many people are still unable to return home.
The recent escalation in Lebanon is part of an ongoing pattern, despite the November 2024 “ceasefire agreement” between Israel and Lebanon. The agreement is yet to bring real safety to people in Lebanon. Daily strikes from the Israeli forces have killed 370 people between the start of the “ceasefire” in November 2024 and March 2, 2026.
More than one million people have been displaced during the latest escalation. Recent strikes and sweeping evacuation orders are forcing more people to flee despite them having nowhere safe to go.
Blanket evacuation orders for hundreds of towns and villages south of the Litani River, plus southern Beirut and parts of the Bekaa valley, collectively cover 14 per cent of Lebanon’s area.
Many people have been displaced multiple times, leaving shelters overcrowded, with some people sleeping in their cars or on the streets. Others have remained in their homes despite evacuation orders or returned due to a lack of space in shelters or lacking means to rent alternative accommodation.
Humanitarian needs are increasing rapidly, including the need for water and essential items, especially in shelters.
MSF teams are working in all of Lebanon’s nine governates. We are running mobile units, supporting shelters for displaced people, distributing essential items and water, and assessing medical activities for trauma cases.
ur teams are operating 15 mobile clinics providing basic healthcare, medications for non-communicable diseases, sexual and reproductive health consultations, and mental health support in seven governorates, including Beirut. We also provide care through fixed clinics in Beirut and in the governorate of Baalbek-Hermel. As of March 22, we’ve provided more than 6,800 medical consultations.
We are also distributing essential relief items like hygiene kits, blankets, and drinking water. In the most-affected governates of South and Nabatieh, we have donated fuel and medical supplies, as well as food parcels for hospital staff in conflict-affected areas.
Repeated displacement, constant exposure to violence, and the loss of family members, homes, and livelihoods are driving widespread trauma and mental health needs. To help alleviate the psychological toll, we have launched mental health helplines to support distressed people in remote or hard-to-access areas.
MSF remains in contact with Lebanese authorities and other organizations and is ready to continue scaling up our response as required.
Iran
In Iran, the impact of the war continues to affect the health system, supply chains, and access to basic services, leaving many people struggling to access primary healthcare. MSF has recently opened a new clinic in Tehran to respond to these needs. We have also reopened our clinic in South Tehran after temporarily suspending activities during the height of the bombing. Since the ceasefire, consultation numbers there have doubled. MSF teams remain ready to scale up in case of re-escalation, in collaboration with the authorities, while continuing to provide primary healthcare in Kerman and Mashhad.
Before Feb. 28, MSF had been running three projects in Iran. In South Tehran, we ran a clinic providing essential healthcare to people engaged in sex work and people who use drugs, plus migrants and refugees. Our clinic in South Tehran is temporarily closed; however, it will soon reopen as a more specialized clinic, to strengthen support to local health systems responding to conflict-related needs, following authorization which was granted in mid-March.
In Mashhad, near the Afghan border, our teams have been providing medical and psychological consultations and screening for infectious diseases for Afghan refugees in a clinic. In Kerman province, MSF is the only medical organization providing direct healthcare services to Afghan refugees. Our clinics in Mashhad and Kerman are still open, albeit operating with reduced staff.
Following the outbreak of the conflict, our teams made initial donations of medical and essential items in Iran. These included kits containing medical and wound care items for 500 patients. We also donated essential items for displaced people, including 5,000 blankets, 4,000 pillows, 15,000 feminine hygiene pads, 10,000 tubes of toothpaste, 5,000 toothbrushes, 10,000 bottles of shampoo and 10,000 units of washing powder.
Receiving information from our staff in Iran is extremely difficult due to the communication blackout. Ongoing hostilities and airstrikes are driving displacement and increasing humanitarian and medical needs in the country.
How is MSF responding elsewhere?
MSF teams are fully mobilised across the region. Since Feb. 28, MSF has shipped 281 tons of medical supplies to countries across the Middle East, including Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Yemen. Preparedness measures include contingency planning, close monitoring, pre-positioning of medical supplies, expanded warehouse capacity, staff readiness trainings, and deployment of mobile services. Supply routes have also been redirected through alternative channels, despite increased costs.
How is the conflict affecting humanitarian operations?
Supply chains remain under pressure due to rising fuel, transport, and procurement costs, longer delivery times, and rerouted cargo, while increased prices and possible fuel shortages could further affect access to essential services, including healthcare, especially for people already facing displacement, financial constraints, and limited access to basic support.
Across the Middle East and beyond, the ceasefires have brought some improvements in security conditions, movement, and airspace access, however, the situation remains fragile and unpredictable, with continued volatility in some areas and wider regional disruptions still affecting MSF operations.
With the Strait of Hormuz closed, MSF is working to reinforce capacity for medical logistics and fuel stocks in all programs. Essential items, including mosquito nets and medical gloves, are already becoming more expensive. MSF international supply centres in Europe are trying to secure stocks and stabilise prices, while pressure on the system continues to intensify. MSF is also shipping more items from Asia, where delivery times are shorter.
The escalation is impacting humanitarian operations. Regional tensions are creating an increasingly volatile and constrained environment for MSF operations across Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Palestine and Syria, although the level and nature of the impact vary between countries.
MSF, conflict and war
MSF does not take sides in conflicts and war zones. We provide medical care based on needs alone and try to reach the people who need help most.
If warring parties suspect aid organizations are on one side of a conflict, we are less likely to gain access to those in need on either side and more likely to be attacked. Ensuring our funding comes from private individuals and not governments or large organizations, demonstrates our independence, neutrality and impartiality to warring parties.
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