War in the Middle East

In Lebanon, MSF teams are working in all of the country’s nine governorates, adjusting and responding to people’s urgent needs. Our teams are running mobile units, supporting shelters for displaced people, and distributing essential items and water. We are also supporting hospitals with trauma and emergency care.

Through mobile clinics our teams are providing basic healthcare, sexual and reproductive health consultations, referrals for further care, and mental health support in seven out of the country’s nine governorates, including Beirut. We also provide care through fixed clinics in an additional governorate, Baalbek-Hermel, and in Beirut. Up until 2 May, we provided over 35,000 medical consultations and mental health support to 26,000 people.

Our teams are also distributing essential relief items like hygiene kits, blankets, and drinking water. We donate fuel and medical supplies, as well as food parcels for hospital staff, in five governorates.

We’ve also launched mental health helplines to support distressed people in remote or hard-to-access areas.

MSF remains in contact with Lebanese authorities and other organisations. After the announcement of a ceasefire, we continue to adapt our response to people’s changing needs.

For more on our response in Lebanon, read our latest articles.

This recent escalation is part of an ongoing pattern of attacks, despite an initial November 2024 “ceasefire agreement” between Israel and Lebanon, following the Israeli bombardments and ground incursion in Lebanon in September that year. However, the agreement has never since brought real safety to people in Lebanon. Daily strikes from the Israeli forces killed 370 people between when the “ceasefire” began in November 2024, and 2 March 2026.

In this latest escalation, over one million people have been displaced. For many people, this was only the most recent in a series of displacements.

The Israeli army issued blanket evacuation orders for hundreds of towns and villages south of the Litani River, plus southern Beirut, and parts of the Bekaa valley in eastern Beirut. These evacuation orders collectively cover 14 per cent of Lebanon’s area.

As of 14 April, almost 7,000 people have been injured and over 2,100 have been killed during this latest escalation, according to the Ministry of Health.

More than eight weeks after the escalation in Lebanon, which began on 2 March, a temporary ceasefire came into effect on 17 April. This has brought a fragile sense of relief, but the situation remains highly uncertain. While the intensity of bombardment has decreased in parts of the country, the ceasefire has not halted the violence, particularly in southern Lebanon, where Israeli attacks continue and communities face widespread destruction, ground incursions, and occupation.

Many towns and neighbourhoods have been heavily damaged, with essential infrastructure – including hospitals, roads, and water systems – destroyed or severely disrupted.

Access to healthcare remains constrained. Some patients in southern Lebanon are staying home because they are afraid to go to hospitals or clinics. Many health facilities are closed. MSF medical staff are concerned that this could lead to a deterioration in people’s health, including for migrants, refugees, and other marginalised groups, who continue to face barriers in accessing healthcare.

In response to people’s growing needs since the start of the escalation, 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, emergency room kits for 1,500 patients, and outpatient care kits for 10,000 patients. We have also donated essential relief items, including 13,000 blankets and hygiene kits for 5,000 people.

While other care providers have focused on trauma, MSF teams have scaled up activities to address the ‘hidden needs’ that continue during war. Our general healthcare teams are providing sexual and reproductive healthcare, treatment for infectious diseases, chronic disease management, referrals to specialised care, and mental health support. Teams are also seeing a deterioration in people’s mental health, as they are living through weeks of war, displacement, and uncertainty.

At the height of the violence, intense bombing forced us to temporarily suspend activities at our clinic in South Tehran. The clinic has since reopened, and MSF has received authorisation to operate it as an advanced medical post, which means we are able to receive wounded patients and stabilise those in critical condition, if needed. Since the ceasefire, consultations at the clinic have doubled, with around 250 patients now treated each day. Our clinic focuses on providing general healthcare services to people who face difficulties accessing care, such as Afghan refugees, and we have now also expanded services to all Iranians.

We have recently opened a second clinic in South Tehran to further expand access to general healthcare. The clinic welcomed its first patients on 2 May. At this clinic we currently see around 100 patients per day.

MSF’s general healthcare activities in Kerman and Mashhad continue. These services remain particularly important for Afghan refugees, many of whom face serious barriers to accessing healthcare. In both Kerman and Mashhad, MSF sees around 150 patients each day.

In case of re-escalation, we remain ready to adapt and further scale up activities to respond to evolving medical needs, in collaboration with the authorities.

While the situation is slowly improving under the ceasefire, many people still struggle to access basic healthcare.

The war has placed Iran’s health system under extreme pressure. Hospitals, clinics, ambulances, and pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities have been hit or damaged. As of 4 May, the World Health Organization had verified 26 attacks on healthcare. Because Iran relies heavily on locally manufactured medicines, damage to pharmaceutical production has directly affected access to essential medicines. General healthcare services were also heavily disrupted during the war, as the Ministry of Health and other organisations shifted focus toward trauma care.

According to humanitarian sources, more than 125,000 pieces of civilian infrastructure and key services, including hospitals, schools, and emergency facilities, have been damaged or destroyed. As of 10 April, the homes of an estimated 300,000 people were directly affected. And according to the Government of Iran, around 3.2 million people are internally displaced, many of whom are living in temporary accommodation such as schools, guesthouses, and sports centres.

MSF teams are responding through emergency preparedness and response in other countries around the region. Emergency teams have been established in Armenia and Iraq. Preparedness measures include contingency planning, close monitoring of the situation, pre-positioning of medical supplies, and sending mobile services to respond to growing needs.

To mitigate the impact of disruptions, supply routes have been redirected through alternative channels, despite increased costs, to ensure the continuity of medical activities. Since 28 February, MSF has shipped 281 tons of medical supplies destined for the Middle East, including Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Yemen.

The escalation is impacting humanitarian operations. Regional tensions are creating an increasingly volatile and constrained environment for MSF operations, although the level and nature of the impact vary between countries.

Overall, the Strait of Hormuz crisis, disruptions in the Red Sea, airspace restrictions, and rerouted cargo are increasing delivery times and costs across MSF supply chains. Essential items, including mosquito nets and medical gloves, are already becoming more expensive.

The impact of this is already being felt in several countries where we work. There have been medication delays in Syria, and increased freight and fuel costs in Somalia.