Middle East
Humanitarian
Appeal
Middle East
Humanitarian Appeal
Conflict in the Middle East has devastated lives. Millions in Gaza, Lebanon and the wider region urgently need shelter, food and basic supplies. Save lives. Donate now.
The scale of need is overwhelming
2.1 million
people - the entire population of Gaza - do not have enough to eat
1.9 million
people displaced in Gaza, and tens of thousands more in Lebanon
DEC charities are providing lifesaving aid in Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank and Syria, but urgently need more funds.
The whole of Gaza is at risk of famine, and people are facing extreme levels of food insecurity. The devastating humanitarian crisis is deteriorating every day. Aid supplies are running dangerously low, making it increasingly difficult to respond to the growing levels of need.
In Lebanon, the ceasefire agreement at the end of last year meant some of the people displaced by conflict could return to their communities and start to rebuild their lives. But months on, many still have no home to return to and are cut off from basic services.
DEC charities and their local partners are working tirelessly supporting people in unimaginably difficult conditions. Each day brings new and unexpected challenges, and they are constantly adapting their operations to deliver whatever aid they can.
Over £45 million has been raised but the needs are huge. DEC charities are responding across the region, where the needs are greatest.
Actors Riz Ahmed, Joe Alwyn and Ruth Negga join the call for urgent donations to help provide lifesaving aid in Gaza, Lebanon and the wider region.
Donate to help people in Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank and Syria.
You can help people affected by the crisis in the Middle East by making a donation and helping to raise money for the DEC appeal. This will allow DEC charities and their local partners to scale up their response and reach more people.
- £30 could provide blankets for six people to keep them warm
- £50 could provide emergency food, for five families for one week
- £100 could provide emergency shelter for five families
Will funds from this appeal help people in Israel?
DEC appeal responses always focus on those areas where significant humanitarian needs are not being met. Read more.
Salam, a volunteer with Wefaq organisation in Gaza and partner of DEC charity ActionAid, Feb 2025. Image: Wattan Media Network/ActionAid
How DEC charities are providing aid as the crisis evolves
Throughout the crisis DEC charities have been working hard to cope with limited deliveries of aid. Everywhere is at risk of famine, and the devastating humanitarian crisis continues to deteriorate.
As they have done throughout the crisis, DEC charities and their local partners are working tirelessly to meet some basic needs in the ways they are still able to.
Mohammad, an aid worker from Oxfam’s local partner in north Lebanon distributes hygiene kits to displaced people at a collective shelter. Photo: Fatima Ghemrawi/Utopia for Social Justice/Oxfam
Where DEC charities are responding
For over a year, conflict in the Middle East has devastated lives across the region, and millions have fled their homes in search of safety.
Needs remain incredibly high across the region, and DEC charities are constantly working with their local partners to navigate the challenges in delivering vital aid. Read more about where and how our charities are responding.
Saleem has been been delivering health packages to people returning to their communities northern Gaza. Image: Aya Matrabie/DEC/Fairpicture
Meet the people delivering lifesaving aid in Gaza
At the heart of the lifesaving aid being delivered by DEC charities and their partners in Gaza, are local aid workers. People who despite dealing with enormous challenges personally and professionally, continue to make incredible sacrifices to help others.
DEC charities and their local partners have continued to adapt their work to deal with new challenges throughout the crisis.
Appeal News
The latest news from the situation in the Middle East.
Jump to
IPC: Gaza faces critical risk of famine
12 May 2025
BBC News have reported The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) have today released a report analysing food security in Gaza from April 1 - May 10 2025.
In the report, the IPC stated that 1.95 million people, or 93% of the population of Gaza, are living through high levels of acute food insecurity, including 244,000 experiencing the most severe levels.
Throughout this period, DEC charities and their local partners have continued to work tirelessly to support people in these unimaginably difficult conditions, as they have been doing throughout the crisis.
Reuters: Dozens of Gaza communal kitchens shut as supplies run out
8 May 2025
According to reports from Reuters, mots of the 170 community kitchens in Gaza have now shut after running out of necessary stock to continue their work. This follows a similar announcement from US based charity World Central Kitchen a few days previously.
Without any deliveries of external supplies, DEC charities are now working with local partners to rely wherever possible on the limited goods that are available from local markets.
This is already the longest period that aid has not been allowed into Gaza since the conflict escalated in October 2023. The UN has described it as “the worst humanitarian situation” since the crisis began.
Middle East Humanitarian Appeal raises over £45 million
21 April 2025
Since launching the Middle East Humanitarian Appeal in October last year, we have raised more than £45 million thanks to the generosity of the UK public, as well as £10 million matched by the UK Government.
DEC charities and their local partners are currently supporting people across Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank with vital food, water, medical care, hygiene supplies and mental health support.
DEC charities support families on the move to northern Gaza
3 February 2025
Palestinian Red Crescent Society preparing clothing packages. Image: Aya Matrabie
DEC charities are working to support some of the tens of thousands of people now returning to northern Gaza, with several hundred thousand expected to move in the coming weeks from displacement camps and shelters in the south.
UK donations to the DEC Middle East Humanitarian Appeal are enabling DEC charities and their local partners to begin adapting and expanding their programmes to provide vital aid to some of the many families on the move.
Over 90 percent of homes are estimated to have been destroyed or damaged across Gaza, as well as a huge amount of essential infrastructure. More than 2 million people need urgent humanitarian aid, with dire shortages of food and clean water across the Gaza strip.
DEC charities “hopeful” they can increase aid in Gaza following ceasefire, with generous UK donations already making a difference
19 January 2025
DEC charity Action Against Hunger provides clean water in Gaza, Jan 2025.
The ceasefire provides some hope and relief to the millions of people whose lives have been devastated in so many ways by conflict.
For DEC member charities it is a critical opportunity to scale up their work to deliver vital food, shelter, water and medical care to those in need.
After more than a year of devastating conflict, it also provides some respite for the people of Gaza, who have been enduring an unimaginably harsh winter. More than 2 million people need urgent humanitarian aid, with dire shortages of food and clean water across the Gaza strip.
All donations will go to the DEC Middle East Humanitarian Appeal. Income earned on funds held (such as bank interest) may be used to fund the whole of the DEC’s work.
