Middle East crisis: What is MSF doing and how can I help?
Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is alarmed by the dramatic escalation in conflict across the Middle East-wide region, following strikes by US and Israeli forces in Iran and Iran’s subsequent retaliatory actions in several countries.
MSF teams are fully mobilised in Lebanon, Iran and across the region.
The escalation in violence has brought fear to the lives of millions of people. Multiple cities and villages have been bombed, often in densely populated areas.
MSF calls for the protection of civilians, hospitals, health facilities, and other essential infrastructure at all times. Since 28 February, MSF has shipped 281.42 tons of medical supplies to countries across the Middle East, including Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Yemen.
Latest stories:
Four ways the Middle East crisis is impacting how MSF operates
Iran: People seeking care in MSF clinic doubles following ceasefire
Lebanon: Heavy influx of wounded patients follow mass-scale strikes
What is MSF doing in Iran and Lebanon?
The most affected countries are Iran and Lebanon, where hostilities and airstrikes have forced millions of people from their homes and killed or injured thousands.
Iran
The impact of the war continues to be felt across the health system, supply chains, and access to basic services. Although the ceasefire has brought some relief, the situation remains fragile and uncertain.
- Our primary healthcare teams are providing sexual and reproductive healthcare, treatment for infectious diseases, chronic disease management, referrals to specialised care, and mental health support
- In South Tehran, MSF has received authorisation to operate our clinic as an advanced medical post, able to receive wounded and stabilise patients in critical condition, if needed. The number of consultations we provide there has doubled since the ceasefire and 250 patients are now being treated at the clinic each day.
- MSF has recently opened a second clinic in South Tehran to further expand access to primary healthcare. The clinic officially opened on Wednesday 29 April and welcomed its first patients on Saturday 2 May. It currently sees around 100 patients per day.
- MSF has donated medicines and medical supplies to the Iranian Red Crescent Society for distribution and use. These include paediatric care kits for 6,000 patients, surgical kits for 2,500 patients, burns kits for 40 patients, ER kits for 1,500 patients, and outpatient care kits for 10,000 patients. MSF has also donated essential relief items, including 13,000 blankets and hygiene kits for 5,000 people.
- In case of re-escalation, MSF remains ready to adapt and further scale up its activities in response to evolving medical needs, in collaboration with the authorities
Lebanon
In Lebanon, MSF has launched a nationwide emergency response, delivering large-scale distributions of shelter materials, water, and essential items to hundreds of thousands of displaced people, while adapting activities to maintain continuity of care and support health facilities receiving casualties.
- As of 2 May, MSF had distributed 37.4 million litres of water and 523,892 litres of drinking water, conducted 35,000 medical consultations, provided mental health support to 26,000 people, and deployed 25 mobile medical units, including three mental health mobile units
- Through mobile medical units, MSF teams are providing primary healthcare, sexual and reproductive healthcare, mental health support, and referrals for patients in need of secondary care. As people continue moving between shelters and homes, MSF teams are adapting their response and assessing evolving needs across the country
- MSF teams are also supporting hospitals facing growing trauma and emergency needs. This includes support to hospitals through donations of fuel and medical supplies. In some facilities MSF has deployed emergency room doctors to reinforce care. This support comes as healthcare workers remain overwhelmed by repeated mass casualty incidents, and hospitals continue to be pushed to their limits by the influx of injured people.
- We are in touch with the relevant authorities to provide additional support where needed
Elsewhere in the region, our teams in Gaza and the West Bank continue to address the significant medical and mental health needs.
In Iraq, MSF has medical supplies available to be deployed in the region if needed.
How can I help MSF?
Our teams across the region – in Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen – are only able to respond because of donations from people like you.
By donating to MSF today, you will help ensure that we can deliver life-saving medical aid to people caught in emergencies around the world.
When a crisis hits, your support means we are already there.
Click here to learn more about how we spend your money.
Spotlight: The humanitarian situation in Lebanon
The impact of the war in Lebanon remains severe. Between 2 March and 17 April, according to Lebanese authorities, around 2,294 people were killed and nearly 7,544 injured as a result of Israel’s bombing campaign.
Almost a fifth of the casualties resulted from Israel’s largest attack on Lebanon since 2024, on 8 April, which killed 357 people and injured at least 1,223 people, according to the Ministry of Public Health.
For nearly six weeks, large-scale Israeli strikes across Lebanon caused civilian deaths and injuries, including in densely populated areas.
At the same time, sweeping evacuation orders triggered large-scale displacement, forcing people to flee their homes and abandon the lives they had built. During the war, widespread and sudden displacement orders, alongside ongoing strikes, uprooted around one-fifth of Lebanon’s population.
The consequences of displacement have not ended with the ceasefire. Most people remain displaced, and while some returned briefly to check on their homes and villages, many have gone back to shelters. For others, return is not possible at all. Entire towns and communities have been destroyed, and the ground incursion in southern Lebanon, including the establishment of a “yellow line” as a no-go zone where Israeli forces have occupied part of Lebanese territory, is cutting people off from returning to their homes.
MSF, conflict and war
In conflicts and war zones, MSF does not take sides. We provide medical care based on needs alone and try to reach the people who need help most.
If warring parties see aid organisations as being on one side of a conflict, we are less likely to gain access to those in need and more likely to be attacked. One of the ways in which we are able to demonstrate our independence to warring parties is to ensure that all our funding for work in conflicts comes from private individuals – we do not accept government grants.